The SUNYAC men’s basketball first round playoff games will take place tonight at 5:30 p.m., winners of tonight’s games will take on Oswego State and College of Brockport Friday night in Oswego, New York.
No. 5 Buffalo State (16-8/10-8) at No. 4 SUNY Cortland (17-8/12-6) 5:30 p.m.
Both teams split their regular season series against each other with a victory each at their home-court.
The last match-up a few weeks ago at Buffalo State was a 78-70 victory for the Bengals, where they had five players score in double figures, including 19 points from Jordan Glover.
The defending SUNYAC champions SUNY Cortland will expect to be one of the more dangerous teams in the tournament, but have showed some inconsistency throughout conference play.
The Red Dragons completed a regular season sweep of No. 2 College of Brockport last Friday night with a 79-74 upset on the road. They did then suffer a loss the next day against Geneseo, and have also lost both contests to Oswego this season.
The first time Cortland hosted Buffalo State this season it was an offensive showing from both sides, with nine players scoring in double figures for both teams in Cortland’s 91-80 victory.
Each team delivers a similar style of attack, the Bengals usually lean on the duo of Lovell Smith and Mike Henry, while the Red Dragons get theirs from the duo of Justin Cooper and James Morales.
A lot of shots from long range will be attempted in this game, and whoever is more efficient will likely decide the outcome like it did the first two games.
SUNY Cortland is 9-2 this season at home, and Buffalo State on the road strand at 4-5 in SUNYAC play.
The winner of this game will take on No. 1 Oswego State Friday night in Oswego at 7:30 p.m.
No. 6 SUNY Geneseo (14-11/9-9) at No. 3 SUNY Oneonta (15-10/12-6) 5:30 p.m.
SUNY Oneonta has had SUNY Geneseo’s number this season, defeating them twice in close victories 89-88, and 83-79 at home.
Geneseo faltered quite a bit towards the end of the season with a tough road stretch, they have lost five of the last seven games, but are coming off a victory over SUNY Cortland last Saturday.
Oneonta finished the regular season with six straight home games with losses to Brockport and Plattsburgh in that stretch. Tonight will be there seventh straight home game, so it is needless to say they will be more than comfortable on their home-court.
The Knights will be led behind Senior John Decker, who leads SUNYAC in scoring with 22.4 points per game. He’ll square off against Oneonta’s Mikey Mcelroy, who is second in scoring in SUNYAC with 21.5 points a game on 54% shooting from the field.
Geneseo is another team that has done average on the road this season in regards of winning, but have played very tough in a lot these competitive SUNYAC match-ups.
The winner of this game will take on No. 2 College of Brockport Friday night in Oswego at 5:30 p.m..
