Oswego State Lakers men’s basketball opens up their 2016-17 campaign Tuesday as they host the Nazareth College Golden Flyers.
Both teams are coming off winning seasons, with Nazareth’s season coming to an end in last year’s Empire 8 conference semifinals with a 75-69 loss to Hartwick College. Nazareth finished off the season with a 17-9 overall record and a 13-3 record in conference play.
Oswego State entered the SUNYAC conference tournament as the 4th seed last season, defeating fifth-seeded SUNY Geneseo in the quarterfinals and upsetting top-seeded SUNY Plattsburgh in the semifinals. The Lakers would then come up short in the SUNYAC Championships Final with a tight 77-74 loss to second-seeded SUNY Cortland.
Despite the big letdown in SUNYAC playoffs, the Lakers received an at-large bid in the NCAA Div. III Tournament.
They out battled Delaware Valley University in the first round with an 88-77 overtime thriller and then would squeak by Gwynedd Mercy University 78-77 in the second round, thanks to a game winning jumper with seven seconds left from senior Brian Sortino.
Advancing to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history, Oswego State would host the three other teams in their region being the higher seed.
It was the last time the Lakers took the floor at Max Ziel Gymnasium, taking on College of Wooster. After a questionable no-call collision in the final seconds as Sortino was driving towards the basket, the Lakers suffered a 66-65 loss.
They finished the season 22-9, with an 11-7 SUNYAC record, and ranked No. 21 in the D3hoops.com rankings. A crushing end to a historic season, that shall lead to plenty optimism under the success of head coach Jason Leone moving forward.
There will be a lot of questions about this year’s Lakers team after they lost four seniors, and three underclassmen from last season. They welcome in 10 new players to this year’s roster, five of them being freshman.
All-American senior guard Brian Sortino, who averaged 20.9 points per game last season, will be expected to lead the way for the Lakers. Alongside him will be senior guard Keith Tyson, and shot block specialist center Mykelle Krecko, both who had started the majority of the games for the Lakers last season.
It will be interesting to see who steps up for the Lakers with big expectations coming from last season’s success.
Junior guard Ian Schupp, who hasn’t played since his freshman year, could be one of the newcomers that makes an impact. He played in 25 games for the Lakers in 2014-15, and averaged 16.6 minutes a game. Junior transfers Josh Ivey and Jamir Ferebee are other Lakers to watch out for, as they both impressed on the offensive end at their former schools.
For Nazareth they lost some of their top scorers from last season, but return junior guard Tyler Stenglein, who averaged 15.2 points per game last season.
Oswego native senior guard Josh Gillard also is expected to play big minutes for the Golden Flyers this season as well.
The Oswego State Lakers come in ranked just outside D3hoops.com preseason top 25 rankings, having the second most votes outside the top 25.
Tipoff for tonight’s matchup between Oswego State and Nazareth College is set for 7:30pm at Max Ziel Gymnasium in Oswego, New York.
