The No. 1 Oswego State Lakers and No. 5 Buffalo State Bengals third time around this season had the same margin of victory and same outcome, but this one turned out to be the most thrilling in the SUNYAC semfinals.

The Lakers defeated the Bengals 84-83 in overtime to advance to tomorrow’s SUNYAC Championships Finals against No. 3 SUNY Oneonta.

Brian Sortino put together a career-high performance of 48 points to put away Buffalo State, 34 of those points coming in the second half and overtime. He also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out six assists. The senior’s point total came up one shy of the program record set back in 1959 by Ron Davis, but Sortino now holds the record for most points in a single game at the Max Ziel Gymnasium.

“Brian, he is just an incredible player,” head coach Jason Leone said. “He just had a look in his eye tonight that was just special. We are all spoiled to watch the things that he does on the court.”

Buffalo State put together a team performance that for sure looked like was going to be enough to avoid a third loss to Oswego State, but Sortino’s play making ability would be too much for them to handle.

Jamir Ferebee scored 14 points with two three-pointers, Ian Schupp knocked down four shots from downtown for this 12-point total.

For the Bengals, Lovell Smith scored 29 points along with his nine rebounds. Dom Grayer had 15 points, and Jordan Glover had 14.

The first half was just as competitive as the rest of the game, with four ties and nine lead changes, it was clear early that we were in for another epic showdown.

The Lakers closed out the first half on a 7-0 run to lead 35-32 at halftime. Buffalo State was playing more efficient, but 11 first-half fouls hurt them tremendously.

The second half featured the same competitiveness but more scoring and a lot of emotions. It was a jam-packed crowd at Max Ziel Gymnasium rallying behind their Lakers.

Both teams looked like they were ready to take the game over and separate themselves in many moments throughout the second half, but the other team seemed to always have an answer.

The Lakers took their largest lead of the game of 60-54 after a pair of free throws from Sortino with 9:55 to go, but Grayer for the Bengals three-pointer cut that lead in half seconds later.

Sortino scored 27 straight points for the Lakers in over a 10-minute stretch in the second half. Three pointers, jumpers, free throws, layups; he was mixing it up and leaving the Bengals defense with no answers.

“I think I hit three in a row and all the guys looked at me and said ‘keep shooting’,” Sortino said. “They trust me with the ball, if someone comes to double me up I’d be more than happy to share it with them.”

Sortino hit two more free throws with 2:04 left in the game to take a 75-72 Laker lead. Buffalo State answered over 10 seconds later with a layup from Jordan Chateu to make it just a one-point deficit again.

Lakers next possession took some clock off as they got two offensive rebounds off their own misses, and ended with Tyler Pierre heading to the line with 57 seconds left. Pierre would go one for two from the line to give the Lakers a 76-74 lead.

Dom Grayer drove the lane the next possession with the shot-clock winding down, and pulled up for a mid-range jumper to nail it and tie the game 76-76 with 29 seconds left.

With the shot clock turned off, the Lakers would hold it for the last shot in the hands of who else but Sortino.

Sortino drove to the right side of the lane and laid up a highly contested shot at an awkward angle, the shot would bounce off the rim twice and eventually miss.

The ball would end up going out of bounds with 0.3 seconds left off of Buffalo State, Oswego State called timeout in attempt to tip it in at the buzzer. Pierre’s tip-in attempt would come up short, sending the game into overtime.

Two minutes into the overtime period the Bengals led 79-76, showing no signs of cooling down. Sortino drained his fifth three-pointer to tie it up again with 2:47 remaining.

After trading free throws, the game was tied once again at 80-80 with just over a minute to go in overtime.

Sortino with the ball in his hands again, found a lane and laid it in to go back up 82-80 with 34 seconds left.

Lovell Smith was having a spectacular performance that was easily overshadowed by Sortino’s play, but he answered right back 16 seconds later with his lay-in plus the foul. His free throw attempt went down and had the Bengals leading 83-82 with 18 seconds left.

It was Buffalo State calling the timeout, as they would need a gameplan against the guy that no doubt was getting the ball for the last shot.

Sortino faced a heavy double-team at the top of the key, but ended up making perhaps the biggest play of the game by lobbing it to a wide-open Ferebee under the basket, whose layup attempt would count from being goal-tended with seven seconds remaining.

On the ensuing Bengals possession, the Lakers took away top options like Smith and Grayer, and the last shot went to Ryniek Holloway, whose three pointer attempt went wide right off the rim to grant the Lakers victory.

“I was just really proud of our guys, the stat sheet if you look at it doesn’t look like we should’ve won the game,” Leone said. “You know what, we made the plays when we had to make them. Just real proud of our guys, and we’re very fortunate and happy to be moving forward.”

The Bengals outshot the Lakers 54 percent to 36 percent from field for the entire game, but the Lakers knocked down their three-pointers and got to the free throw line overwhelmingly.

Oswego State made 21-28 free throws, mostly thanks to Sortino getting to the line 19 times and making 17 of them.

It was as mental, physical, and emotional a game the Lakers could ever ask for, but in reality they come back tomorrow with a chance to win the SUNYAC championship on their home floor.

“Those guys will be fine, really not worried about it, they know what’s at stake we have a very mature group,” Leone said. “This isn’t is the first time we’ve had a very emotional win. If anything I can see it as being motivation for these guys, these guys seem to like it when it’s tougher.”

Oswego State will sure have their hands full tomorrow against a great SUNY Oneonta group who dominated the No. 2 seeded the College at Brockport prior to the Lakers’ semifinal game.

After coming up just short in last year’s SUNYAC title game, the Lakers and their seniors will have plenty of pride to play for in front of their home-crowd.

Catch the SUNYAC men’s basketball championship between No. 1 Oswego State and No. 3 Oneonta with a 4:00 p.m. tip-off Saturday afternoon at the Max Ziel Gymnasium.