The Cortland Red Dragons secured its spot into the Div. III NCAA Tournament with a nail-biting 77-74 win over the Oswego State Lakers Saturday.

James Morlaes of Cortland heaved a three-pointer as time was expiring and nailed it with only tenths of a second remaining to give his team the win. Cortland took possession after Kyle Covley nailed a three at the other end with 23.9 seconds remaining. Morales took a lob pass and capitalized, scoring three of his six on the shot.

The Red Dragons, who were the No. 2 seed in the tournament, narrowly defeated The College at Brockport Friday 73-72 to advance to Saturday’s final. SUNY Cortland has now won the conference for basketball seven times in its history.

Oswego State started off hot, and although they lost lead mid-way through the first half, regained their momentum and finished the first half with an eleven-point lead, 41-30.

However, the Red Dragons caught fire with the three ball, hitting 11of 18 from beyond the arc en route to a 47-point half.

Leading the Red Dragons was Tournament MVP Carrel Joseph, who went 6-8 from three to aid his 24 total points. The 6’6″ big man caused problems for Oswego’s defense all night as Mykelle Krecko and Mark Candelario were unable to keep him off the scoreboard both in the paint and from deep.

Brian Sortino had a game-high 27 points for the Lakers, giving the Lakers big shots to keep the deficits close. Both he and Covley made it to the All-Tournament team, which they were recognized for post-game.

Covley also collected 19 for the Lakers, hitting five threes.

A big question for the Lakers was Coach Leone’s decision to sit center Mykelle Krecko for the entire second half, as he only played 16 minutes the whole game.

Along with Krecko riding the bench for the majority of the game, Demetrius Mitchell who played 19 minutes last night with 10 points of the bench only played four minutes.

Despite the loss, the Lakers season may not be over. They await the field of the NCAA Tournament to see if they clinched an at-large bid. They’ll be battling neck-and-neck with SUNY Plattsburgh for an at-large bid, only if a member from the SUNYAC is granted one.