By Spencer Bates

In the span of one weekend, the Oswego State men’s basketball team successfully knocked off the second and third place teams in the SUNYAC. The 17th nationally ranked Lakers have only one loss on the season and have put up an impressive 15 game win streak throughout the winter break and into the spring semester.

The Laker’s first loss this season came at the hands of the Nazareth College Golden Flyers on Nov. 23 by a score of 65-67. Since then they have beaten all of their opponents by an average of just over 21 points. Over the break the team’s lowest scoring outing was a 59-46 win against RPI in the St. John Fisher Tournament that the Lakers ended up winning after toppling St. John Fisher in the final 83-70. With this win Oswego State took home their second piece of silverware of the season adding to their title as the Max Ziel Men’s Basketball Tournament champions.

Over the break, the Lakers put up impressive season high’s in terms of points against Buffalo State and Plattsburgh State. In both games the team racked up 109 points, the most points by an Oswego State men’s basketball team since 2012 when the Lakers beat D’Youville 122-72.

Not to be forgotten is the midseason transfer of Christian Simmons. The 6’4” senior forward from Rochester transferred from Walsh University. Simmons debuted for the Lakers against SUNY Fredonia and while he only posted one point in 12 minutes of play the team would soon feel his impact. In six of the last eight games for the Lakers, Simmons has put up double digit points including one 22 point, eight rebound performance against Buffalo State. Head coach Jason Leone had a lot to say about his newest player, including how the addition of Simmons was much more of a question of team chemistry and sacrificial attitudes rather than skill alone.

“He was on full scholarship at Div. II and when he contacted us about coming here it was a unique situation because it’s the middle of the year,” Leone said. “We were off to a good start [and] you get concerned about how will the guys answer. So we had to meet with the team [and] say ‘look I think our team is great, I think this guy can take us to a different level, but you guys tell me if you think this is going to make people uncomfortable because he is going to play’.”

However, there was an understanding between Simmons and the coaching staff that the forward would not start any games this season seeing how lineups have already been set and bonds have formed between teammates.

“He [Simmons] totally bought into that and agreed to that,” Leone said. “He comes in and he’s impactful with his enthusiasm, obviously his physicality around the basket and he does all the little things. He really fits our team this year. Our team is built on physicality, defense, offensive rebounding, transition, those are the areas he excels in so it’s obviously been a shot in the arm.”

More recently, SUNY Oneonta and SUNY New Paltz respectively, entered the Max Ziel Gymnasium on Jan. 28 and 29 looking to take down the Lakers who are undefeated in the conference this season, both coming away unsuccessfully. The Lakers scored above 80 and held the opposition to under 60 points in both games.

The first game of the weekend was a highly anticipated matchup with SUNY Oneonta. The Red Dragons were coming off an 83-73 win against SUNY Brockport. Three Oneonta players scored in the double digits, with newcomer and senior guard/forward Daniel Derice and junior guard/forward Dylan Trombley scoring 22 and 20 points respectively. Overall the team shot a solid 46.3% from the field. 

The Lakers were also coming off a 78-68 win in their last game against SUNY Geneseo where Jeremiah Sparks and Devin Green led the way with 18 and 16 points. The Lakers shot 40% exactly from the field and just over 24% from beyond the three point arc.

However SUNY Oneonta’s impressive shooting would not continue against the Lakers. An incredibly energetic effort on the defensive end of the floor for Leone’s men held the Red Dragons to 58 points on just under 34% shooting. Derice and Trombley who were outstanding in their previous game we kept to 15 combined on three for seven shooting.

Meanwhile for the Lakers the hot streak continued for Sparks who put up 20 points and six rebounds of his own on top of another impressive performance from Simmons and Green. The two combined for 26 points on nine for 13 shooting. The Lakers offense was just as much of a spectacle as the defense, however Leone was not so quick to celebrate the near 50% shooting from his team.

“Shooting is a delicate topic,” Leone said. “I don’t really talk about it that much, I talk more about two things: shot selection, making sure we understand how the defense is playing us, making sure we take the shots we want to take, not the shots the defense is trying to make us take. Second thing is we had a couple guys and quite frankly when you start to win games when you’re 18 and 20 years old you sometimes forget what got you there and … these next four weeks is the time to really put your foot on the gas not take it off.”

The Lakers did exactly that the following day as SUNY New Paltz came to town. A matchup that the Lakers comfortably won with a final score of 82-53. Rylan Blondo was the only Hawks player who scored in the double digits, putting up an assist and two rebounds in the game as well. Green and Simmons put together another great performance combining for 24 points. For the Lakers, in this matchup junior guard Kaleb Cook got in on the action with 11 points and an assist with six of his points coming from three point range. After the win the Lakers were bumped up in the national ranking but Leone spins a cautionary tale about thinking too far ahead.

“You get that recognition and the first thing is you think you’ve climbed some sort of hurdle when really it’s a pretty insignificant thing,” Leone said. “So it’s great for our fans and our alumni and for recruiting but in terms of where we want to go it isn’t a thing that really matters.”

The Lakers are next in action on Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. against the Potsdam Bears in a SUNYAC matchup at home in the Max Ziel Gymnasium.

William Rogers | The Oswegonian