Oswego State men’s basketball on Saturday afternoon took down SUNY Geneseo 65-58 in the regular season finale at Max Ziel Gymnasium.
Prior to the game, the Lakers honored their four seniors Jamir Ferebee, Ian Schupp, Josh Ivey and Louis Avellino. It was a senior effort, as they combined to score more than half the Lakers’ point total.
“We try to make it as best we can as a tribute to our seniors,” Leone said. “I tell the guys, make it about a basketball game. We got to win for our seniors to make it memorable day that they can take with them the rest of their life.”
The story of the game was Josh Ivey, who had a career-best scoring 22 points (13 in first half, 10 in the second). He also grabbed six rebounds in his effort.
“It feels good,” Ivey said. “I didn’t even know that honestly. I mean if we were to win and I didn’t get my career high I would have felt good too. This just makes it that much better.”
Ivey started the game off quickly for the Lakers and gave them an early double-digit lead. He converted a layup plus the foul just six minutes into the game to put his point total up to 11 points already, and the team leading Geneseo 14-2.
Schupp, who was second on the team in scoring tonight with 11 points, put home a layup to give the Lakers their largest lead of the night 28-11 with seven minutes to go in the first half.
“[Geneseo] hung in there. They played good defense,” Leone said. “Give them credit, it was a heck of a win for us.”
The Knights began to settle in and cut their first half deficit to single digits, only trailing 34-26 at the half. Tommy Eastman for Geneseo had 13 points for the game and highlighted the Knights rally.
Ivey’s previous career-high occurred during his time at Mohawk Valley Community College, where he scored 17 points on different occasions. He quickly surpassed that total just four minutes into the second half when he scored on a layup driving in the right lane.
“[Ivey] posts up as well as any guy at his position in the league,” Leone said.
It was face up jumpers in the post that Leone felt led to Ivey’s offensive success and opened up the rest of the Lakers offense. He drained five of them, including one from beyond the arc.
“You got to go with him when he’s doing that,” Leone said. “That part of the post-game impressed me the most today. He had it going, he had it locked in.”
After the Lakers went back up by double-digits at 48-38 just less than 12 minutes remaining, the Knights turned it around from there and made it a ball game. They took a 15-4 run into the final four minutes of the game and took their first lead at 53-52.
The Laker senior Ferebee took the game into his hands by making a layup driving in the left lane to regain the lead 54-53 with 2:30 left remaining.
“Like [Sortino] last year, [Ferebee] guards the other team’s player and he puts up with me,” Leone said. “I don’t take it easy on anyone, I expect a lot out of everybody.”
Trading buckets, it was Geneseo’s leader Eastman once again who took the lead back with a layup of his own with 2:15 remaining.
On a day meant for seniors, just 15 seconds later, it was the freshman Liam Sanborn who had the shot of the day with his 3-pointer from the corner off an assist from Ferebee to give them a 57-55 lead.
“We wanted to win for [the seniors],” Sanborn said. “They work hard, they’ve been here for four years so they wanted to go out on a high note.”
Seniors would seal the deal. Ivey, Ferebee and Schupp combined for 6-6 from the free throw line to close out Geneseo for their 65-58 victory.
“It was definitely pretty cool. Last time playing at Laker hall,” Schupp said. “Glad I ended my career here with a win.”
Ferebee finished with three assists and was proud of his teammates involved, especially his fellow classmate Ivey for his career outing. Ball movement was especially essential all around for a team who already plays with an unselfish mindset.
“Feels great,” Ferebee said. “Especially going into the playoffs. Other people getting involved, something we want to do going into the playoffs.”
Next for Oswego State, official as of last night, they will play SUNY Geneseo once again on the road for the SUNYAC Championships Final First Round.
“Geneseo is one of the top-end programs in this league,” Leone said. “We both know each other. We both know our tendencies. We got to go out and play on Tuesday.”
The game today had no implications, but certainly meant a lot to Lakers celebrating their seniors and hosting their families.
“This is up there. I would say top-three, definitely top-three,” Ivey said on where this game ranked in his collegiate career.
It was a sensational way to end their career at Max Ziel Gymnasium, but the team hopes to keep the train moving along Tuesday night at Geneseo.
“It’s definitely up there with the SUNYACs and all the national tournament games we’ve played,” Schupp said. “But you know, got to get ready for Tuesday because that’s going to be along with all the great games I’ve played in.”
For now, the Lakers will enjoy this and prepare for their third matchup of the season with Geneseo Tuesday night and reflect on memorable senior day.
“I’m very proud of all these seniors and how far they’ve come,” Leone said. “Not just with their basketball growth, but with their personal growth over the time they’ve been here. They are going to be a successful group of young guys when they get out here and go to their next endeavors in life.”
