Oswego State men’s basketball in a tough battle at Max Ziel Gymnasium on Friday night lost to The College at Brockport 69-67.
The Lakers dropped to 12-12 overall and 9-8 in SUNYAC. With the loss, they miss out on potentially hosting a SUNYAC First Round playoff game and will be the No. 5 seed for the conference postseason.
The Lakers never had a lead in the game as Brockport went off to a quick start. They only managed 23 points on 9-36 shooting despite grabbing 12 offensive boards in the first half.
“This loss was to a good team that has a chance to make the NCAA tournament,” head coach Jason Leone said. “We had trouble scoring.”
Lakers trailed 34-23 at the half and faced their largest deficit of the half after going down 13 in the opening minute.
The senior Ian Schupp, who went scoreless in the first half, led the second half wave for the Lakers with seven points in the opening six minutes. They would only trail 44-40 at that point.
After Brockport went back up 10 points near the midpoint of the half, the Lakers offense was taken over by their two top guns tonight in Jamir Ferebee and Tyler Pierre. Ferebee finished the game with 22 points and Pierre finished with 14.
“We’re getting better. We lost by two points,” Leone said. “The game could’ve gone either way. We had a poor first half. The kids played much better offensively in the second half, we just couldn’t get over that hump when we needed to.”
An 8-0 run by the Golden Eagles going into the last four minutes put the Lakers in another hill to climb in the closing stretch. As always, at home, they would not go down without a fight with the game coming to a close.
A Pierre 3-point play and a Ferebee 3-pointer had the Lakers within 61-57 with 3:00 remaining. The Golden Eagles did a good job controlling the clock and scoring at the end of the shot clock. Tyler Collins for Brockport drained a jumper and converted two free throws to keep them ahead by two possessions going into the final minute.
The Lakers last chance came with 15 seconds remaining and down 68-64, Ferebee driving the ball to the right wing lost it out bounds despite contact on the play.
Hamed Shamseldin, scoring 21 points for the game, would seal it with a free throw. Schupp’s 3-pointer before the buzzer would be too little too late as Brockport snapped the Lakers 3-game win streak in their 69-67 victory.
The Lakers have held their own on the defensive end in recent weeks, but the Golden Eagles were able to shoot efficiently tonight
What is clinched in the SUNYAC six team playoff field is No. 1 Plattsburgh State, No. 4 SUNY Geneseo and No. 5 Oswego State. SUNY Cortland and Brockport are battling for a first round bye as they face off tomorrow. SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Potsdam will battle for the final spot in the playoffs.
Oswego State will host SUNY Geneseo tomorrow and will still bring the same planned intensity despite their playoff matchup already set.
“All the games are important. You got to play well,” Leone said. “We’ll bounce back tomorrow. You’ll see a very spirited effort tomorrow from our guys. I am 100 percent sure of that.”
It will be the last game at Max Ziel Gymnasium for the Lakers this season, but the last one ever for the four seniors on the team Jamir Ferebee, Ian Schupp, Louis Avellino and Josh Ivey. Tipoff is set for 3:00 tomorrow as Oswego State will host SUNY Geneseo for the regular season finale.
