The Oswego State Lakers seized the 2016-2017 SUNYAC Championship on their home-floor on Feb. 25 with a 75-70 victory over the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons.
This marks their third SUNYAC title in the last six seasons under head coach Jason Leone, their seventh in program history, and another trip to this year’s NCAA Div. III Tournament.
Brian Sortino scored 27 points in the championship game, just hours after completing a SUNYAC playoff game record with 48 points in the semifinals against Buffalo State. His historic weekend earned a spot on the All-Tournament team and the SUNYAC Tournament MVP.
“Hopefully I can play like that every game for my teammates and just win for them,” Sortino said. “I think that’s what every senior wants, I got to cut down the nets in front of friends and family. It’s an unreal feeling.”
Ian Schupp and Tyler Pierre were also named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament team for the Lakers.
Schupp scored 22 points in the championship game against his former team, SUNY Oneonta, and knocked down a total of eight three-pointers in the tournament.
“I was just fired up being able to play in a SUNYAC Championship game,” Schupp said. “I just wanted to step up and give everything I had. I definitely wanted to enjoy it at the same time and not be too serious about it, but I was just able to play my game and have fun, and it all worked out in the end.”
The Laker sophomore Pierre played 17 minutes in the championship game and totaled 15 rebounds in the tournament to go with 12 offensive boards. He has turned into a reliable role player off the bench and fits into many of the smaller lineups that Leone uses.
It was a season about finding their own identity. To go with nine new players on the roster, they returned experienced seniors such as Sortino, Mykelle Krecko, and Keith Tyson, but knew it would take some progression from the newer players to succeed.
Through the first 10 games for the Lakers were 7-3 overall and 3-1 in SUNYAC. Even with the decent record, they were still were not playing great offensively and relied more on defense.
Perhaps it was a turning point to pull off a 71-70 victory against Buffalo State before winter break as the Lakers began to thrive offensively, averaging 83.5 points per game against SUNYAC opponents in the new calendar year.
Since their loss to SUNY Oneonta, the Lakers were the hottest team in the SUNYAC, winning 12-straight conference games, with their most notable win being a 78-75 victory over the College at Brockport to take over first place in the SUNYAC standings.
Along the way, some of the additions progressed into larger roles, including junior-transfer guard Jamir Ferebee moving into the starting lineup.
Ferebee scored season-highs of 21 points against SUNY Cortland and SUNY Potsdam, and was second on the team in scoring in 2016.
“I want to make sure our guys enjoy what’s going on here, they worked extremely hard throughout the course of the year and we really improved,” Leone said. “When they’re happy we play better. When they enjoy being around one another as much they do and enjoy seeing each other do well I think that building of comradery and confidence is something I think we can take with us.”
For the semifinals last Friday the Lakers got a third date with the Buffalo State Bengals, in which they beat them by one point in each of the previous two matchups.
Despite Lovell Smith’s spirited performance of 29 points for the Bengals, Sortino’s 48 points for the Lakers would be too much for Buffalo State and Oswego State escaped with an 84-83 overtime victory.
In a game all about scoring for Sortino, his assist over the double-team to a wide-open Ferebee with seven seconds remaining won the game for the Lakers and advanced them to the SUNYAC Championship against SUNY Oneonta.
SUNY Oneonta beat the No. 2 seed College at Brockport convincingly in the semifinals that Friday evening, 85-72. The Red Dragons were coming in hot with two of the best scorers in the SUNYAC in Mikey McElroy and Lawrence Coleman.
Showing no signs of fatigue, the Lakers reached out to a 53-38 lead at halftime shooting 50 percent as a team behind Sortino’s 20 points.
Reality kicked in just a bit in the second half as SUNY Oneonta made it a game and reduced the deficit to two points at 72-70, but missed free throws and the Lakers’ defense slowing the game down had the Red Dragons coming up short.
“The game slows down the deeper you get into the season, things don’t come as easy offensively or defensively,” Leone said. “Mistakes are magnified so the hardest part is trying to play much of a mistake-free game as possible.”
