Great defense and a strong second half helped lead the Oswego State men’s basketball team (18-6, 12-5 SUNYAC) over SUNY Geneseo (9-15, 6-11 SUNYAC) on Friday 64-42.
The Lakers outscored the Knights 37-22 in the second half while shooting 56.5% (13-23) from the field, 50% from the 3-point line (4-8) and 100% from the free-throw line (7-7).
The Knights struggled offensively the entire game. Not only did they fail to reach 50 points, but they also shot just 31.9% (15-47) from the field the entire game, including only shooting 18.2% (2-11) from the 3-point line. The Lakers defense forced the Knights to take several tough shots throughout the game with many of the Knights’ offensive possessions running late into the shot clock. Oswego State head coach Jason Leone spoke highly of the team’s defense Friday.
“We took them out of everything they were trying to do on offense,” Leone said. “I thought the guys were really prepared. You can always tell when a team is locked in by their talk on defense and their body language.”
Jeremiah Sparks led the way for the Lakers, finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Brandan Gartland added 13 points, and Colby Moultrie finished with 12 points of his own off the bench.
Alex Merhige and Michael Gannon finished with 12 points each for the Knights.
Oswego State struggled in the first half, shooting 37.5% (9-24) from the field, but good defense from the Lakers held SUNY Geneseo to 29.6% (8-27) shooting. The Lakers took a 27-20 lead into the break.
“I thought it was a matter of time before we started making shots,” Leone said. “First half we had some open looks, and we just didn’t knock down shots. I thought we stuck with what we were doing and Liam [Sanborn] made some really good passes to the open men and did a great job locking down Gannon. I thought Jeremiah made some really good reads of pick and rolls as well, and Brandan and Colby were the recipients of that.”
Next up for the Lakers is a matchup vs. the number one seed of the SUNYAC, The College at Brockport (21-3, 16-1 SUNYAC). The Golden Eagles are coming off of an overtime win vs. SUNY Cortland Friday 86-80. The Lakers lost to the Golden Eagles 68-67 in their last meeting.
“We got a lot of work to do,” Leone said. “They’re a really good team. They’re number one team in the region, number one team in the league, so we are going to have to play. We played well tonight, but we are going to have to play a much cleaner version tomorrow to beat them.”
Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian
