SWARTHMORE P.A. — The Oswego State Men’s basketball team took the the road last weekend to Swarthmore, Pennsylvania for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. After Monday’s selection show it was announced that they would play Hood College of Frederick, Maryland in the first round, with the winner moving on to take on the winner of Swarthmore and Keene State of New Hampshire. 

Oswego and Hood were the second game in the entire tournament to tip off, with the time set for 3:05 Friday afternoon. Jamal Achille started the scoring for both sides with an early three, but that was quickly followed by six straight points from Hood for an early 6-3 lead. The two sides kept it close throughout the early part of the first half, but the three point barrage from Hood’s Evan Wang saw them grab a nine point advantage, 25-16, with nine to play. The Lakers then found their stride, an 18-2 run to end the half saw them go to the locker rooms up 34-27. Evan Wang had 18 of Hood’s 27 in the first half. The teams traded baskets to start the second half, with Oswego extending their lead to just ten, 47-37 with just under 14 minutes to play. Hood then went on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to five, and after a made Oswego basket, hit a three to cut it to four. Then the Laker’s hit their stride again, a 14-2 run saw the lead jump to 66-50 with seven and a half minutes to play. Hood fought the rest of the game, but the lead never dropped below nine for Oswego, and the Lakers moved on to the round of thirty-two with a 82-73 victory. Jamal Achille led Oswego with 20 point and 12 rebounds, nine of them offensive. Four other Lakers had nine or better in the points column, Devin Green (17), Jeremiah Sparks (10), Brendon Mulson (9), and Julien Crittendon (9). Evan Wang (21) came in second in points for Hood to his twin brother Mason Wang (23).

Keene State won the other matchup in the pod over hosts Swarthmore, so the two sides met Saturday afternoon for a chance to move into the sweet sixteen. Jamal Achille picked up where he left off and scored nine points in the first six minutes, with Ahkee Anderson contributing four, to give the Lakers a 13-10 lead. Devin Green found his scoring stride, scoring seven of Oswego’s next 12  to give them a 25-14 lead with seven to go in the half. The Lakers kept pushing, and by halftime they led 48-28. Jamal Achille and Christian Simmons each had 13 in the half, with Anderson and Green both having nine. Keene State was led by Octavio Brito who had 12. Jamal Achille hit the twenty point mark with 15 still to play on a two-handed slam down low, and Oswego had a 57-32 lead. Keene State then went on a 19-9 run to close the gap to 15 with just under eight minutes in the game. Keene State cut the lead to 13 with 5:10 to go. Oswego hit a couple of shots to push the lead back to 18, and then both sides went scoreless for a little over two minutes. Hunter Cole had five of Oswego’s last seven in the final minute of play, and Oswego moved on with another win, 84-63. Jamal Achille again led the team, this time with 22, and Ahkee Anderson had his season high with 17. Christian Simmons added 16 of his own off the bench, and Devin Green had 11 to close out the Lakers in double digit scoring. Octavio Brito led Keene State in scoring with 24, and Mason Jean-Baptiste had 19, no other players had over 5 five points.

The Lakers and their fifth ranked defense now head to Marietta, Ohio to take on the Marietta Pioneers in the sweet sixteen. Marietta hosted the first two rounds of play as well, beating Madaille College 91-79 in the first round and the University of Rochester 88-83 in the second round. Marietta is led by 17.3 point-per-game scorer, senior guard Jason Ellis, who had 25 in the first round, but was held to only 10 in the second. Their second leading scorer is senior guard Lukas Isaly who averages 15.3, he had 15 in the first round, and had a game high 33 vs Rochester. They also have two other ten plus point scorers in seniors Tim Kreeger and Mason Lydic, who average 11.8 and 10.8 respectively. Marietta is 20th in the country in team scoring at 84.7 points per game. The winner of this matchup plays the winner of Christopher Newport University of Newport News, Virginia and Stockton University of Galloway Township, New Jersey.

IMAGE PROVIDED BY OSWEGO ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT