On a night dedicated to honoring their seniors, the Oswego State Men’s Basketball team juniors stole the show. The Lakers won their sixth straight game, defeating the SUNY Geneseo Knights, 75-67, to move up to second place in the SUNYAC playoff standings.
Seniors Mark Candelario, Alex Rawa, Kyle Covley and Walter Sampson were honored before the game.
Although Sampson was unable to play due to injury, the other seniors made their mark.
Rawa, Covley and Candelario combined for 25 points. Rawa scored 12 points on 3-for-8 shooting including two three-pointers, while Covley contributed nine and Candelario scored four, respectively.
It was a special night for the seniors, who potentially played their last home game at the Max Ziel Gymnasium.
“It’s been a long four years with these guys,” Rawa said. “But we still try to treat it like any other game.”
During the emotional night for the seniors, an unlikely pair of juniors stole the show on offense.
With junior leading scorer Brian Sortino having a hard time scoring, juniors Keith Tyson and Demetrius Mitchell stepped up.
The duo combined for 36 points on the night, with Tyson finding lanes to cut through and Mitchell finding his stroke from behind the three-point arc.
“I think it’s big that Demetirus and Keith stepped up today,” Covley said. “There’s always going to be someone stepping up in these big games.”
Tyson scored a game high 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field, setting a new career high. His playing time has increased under Coach Jason Leone after Sampson’s injury.
“I felt good,” Tyson said. “I just let the game come to me and I didn’t really rush anything and my teammates found me when I was open. This whole team is great, we have a lot of great players, from the last guy to Brian [Sortino]. We’re all great.”
The Lakers performed well even though their top scorer Sortino struggled to get into his usual scoring form. Coming off a 38-point performance on the road against rival Plattsburgh, he could not get a shot to land the first half. Driving to the rim at every opportunity, he finally scored his first points from the field with 15:48 left in the second half. He passed the ball well through, as he tallied a team-leading seven assists on the night.
The Lakers continued their winning streak and positioned themselves to move as high as the 2nd seed in the SUNYAC standings if they win their final regular season game on the road against SUNY Cortland.
“We’ve gained a lot of confidence over the last four weeks,” Leone said. “And these guys, for whatever reason, like being in these kinds of moments. Last year we kind of had a stinker at home on senior day, so the guys wanted to definitely do better out there tonight.”
Coming into the game the Lakers were in fourth place in the SUNYAC standings. After falling as low as 8th earlier in the season, their current six game winning streak has propelled them right back into the hunt, clinching them a playoff berth.
The Lakers will close out their regular season against SUNY Cortland and could potentially host a home playoff game depending on their final playoff seed.
Both teams have an identical SUNYAC record, and the winner will clinch the No. 2 seed in the conference.
