The Oswego State men’s basketball team felt defeat for the first time this season, losing 77-80 to Nazareth College.

Looking back on the historic previous season for the Lakers, the Golden Flyers were one of only two teams to hand them a loss. A 65-67 result that saw Oswego State claw back from a second half deficit to nearly snatch the victory in the dying moments.

This season’s rendition was similar. The first half started heavily contested with senior forward Jamal Achille and senior guard Devin Green emerging as the hot hands for the Lakers early on. It would be a full team effort on the opposite end of the court with graduate student Jonathan Park, freshman guard Jaylen Savage and senior guard Jordan Haggard scoring at will.

With just under nine minutes left in the first half and the scores notched at 23 apiece, Nazareth turned up the heat in the Kidera Gymnasium. The perfect combination of lockdown interior defense from the Golden Flyers and several mistakes and turnovers by the Lakers allowed Nazareth the opportunity to go on a run which they happily took. With two seconds left on the clock before halftime, Haggard drained a deep three pointer in front of his home crowd that capped off a 19-9 run by the Golden Flyers to end the half with a score of 32-46.

After the break Oswego State was a different beast. Head coach of the Lakers Jason Leone spoke to his team about how they needed to prevent Nazareth from settling into an offensive rhythm to get themselves back into the game. 

“We wanted to get the game a little more high tempo and a little bit more random,” he said. “We went to our press in the second half and the other thing we tried to do was open up the floor and try to get their big buy away from the basket and create more driving lanes on offense.”

A message which his team responded with by going on an opening 25-9 point run that tied the game at 57. Achille again found himself at the forefront of the Lakers attack during the run with junior guard Jeremiah Sparks and junior forward Cartier Bowman contributing heavily. Bowman grew into the game exponentially in the beginning of the half finishing off nearly impossible acrobatic layup attempts one after another.

The Lakers didn’t stop there either as they took the lead and inflated it to eight points. Achille said the pressure the team put on their opponents was key to their success in the second half.

“It caused them to have a couple turnovers, we caused a little chaos,” he said. “[Personally,] in the second half I found a groove and was more aggressive in attacking their big man and getting to the paint.”

However, unlike their matchup last year, it was Nazareth who would mount a late comeback. Graduate student guard Zach Stenglein, whose only real contribution in the game before the last three minutes came in the form of his four personal fouls and three turnovers, made a clutch layup and followed it up by draining a three-pointer that gave the Golden Flyers a narrow lead. Needing three points to send the game into overtime, the ball found its way into the hands of Green, who led the Lakers in three-point percentage last season. Unfortunately for Oswego State, Nazareth’s defense would force him into sending up a prayer from beyond the arc which didn’t drop in.

As the buzzer sounded, Nazareth celebrated with force. Meanwhile, this marked the first loss of the season for the Lakers. Ahead of their next game against SUNY Fredonia, Leone is focussed on getting his team out to a better start on the defensive end and setting the tone for their SUNYAC title defense.  The game against the Blue Devils will be the first league and first home game of the season for Oswego State in the Max Ziel Gymnasium on Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m.

Photo Provided by oswegolakers.com