The Oswego State men’s basketball team won its fourth game in a row Tuesday, defeating SUNY New Paltz by a score of 80-55 at the Max Ziel Gymnasium. 

The story of the game was the offensive performance in the first half from Oswego State. The Lakers dominated the game from the start, as they were shooting the lights out, which eventually gave them an early 30-9 lead with 9:42 remaining in the first half. 

The offensive success in the first half came mainly from 3-point shooting, which was excellent. It seemed as if they could not miss a shot, as they shot 10-18 from 3-point range in the half, resulting in long runs throughout the half. The Lakers hit an outstanding 10 3-pointers in the half and at one point, they scored 12 points in a row off 3-pointers alone. 

Oswego State’s largest lead of the first half was 32 points and by the end of the half, the Lakers led the Hawks 54-25. They also finished the half shooting 57.1% from the field. 

It seemed like everyone was touching the ball on every offensive possession for the Lakers, which ultimately led to their offensive success throughout the game. 

“I think we had good ball movement,” head coach Jason Leone said. “When you have good ball movement, it creates open shots for the guys.” 

Leone spoke very highly on certain players regarding their ability to work the defense in the half-court offense, which leads to very easy buckets. One of those players is guard Liam Sanborn, who finished the game with six points and five assists. 

“Liam did a great job off the pick and roll when he was double teamed,” Leone said. “He’s really improved with his reading of the defense. He has given up some of his scoring this year, so guys like Jeremiah [Sparks], Joe [Sullivan] and Brandan [Gartland] can be a big part of the offense.” 

Sullivan played excellent tonight for the Lakers, as he led the team with 20 points, 14 of which came in the second half. 

Although Sullivan led the way for the Lakers, it was the bench for the Lakers that played great. Everyone on the Lakers played tonight. Players like Colby Moultrie and Kaleb Cook played excellent off the bench. Moultrie finished with 12 points, off of four 3-pointers. Cook’s points also came from the 3-point line, as he finished with nine points. The Lakers bench finished with 38 points total and played 115 total minutes. 

“We have a very young team,” Leone said. “We have a lot of freshman and sophomores, so giving them opportunities to play in game action and play through mistakes is very important. Most of those guys are in roles where if they make one or two mistakes, it is hard to play them for a long amount of time. Games like this, where we extended our lead early, they’re able to play extended minutes, and if they make mistakes, they are going to play through those. That can be a helpful thing for all our young guys.”

Oswego State will look to extend its four-game winning streak, as it travels to SUNY Cortland this Saturday for a tough SUNYAC matchup vs. the Red Dragons at 4 p.m. In their last meeting, the Lakers defeated the Red Dragons 68-66 at home. 

“In terms of keeping the momentum going, I think that happens every day with our habits in practice and obviously, we have to rely on our older guys that have been here before to set a tone,” Leone said. 

Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian