With three and a half minutes left in the game, Oswego State’s sophomore guard Joey Rowback received the ball beyond the three-point arc. Effortlessly, he lined up his shot, one in which got his entire bench on their feet. As the ball soared through the air and eventually found the bottom of the net, Rowback had tied Oswego State’s record for the most three-pointers in a single game with his eighth of the night.

The spectacle capped off a weekend of games in which the Lakers breezed through two SUNYAC opponents in Buffalo State and SUNY Geneseo. The first match of the weekend was the second meeting between the Lakers and the Bengals this season. The first resulted in a 106-64 win for Oswego State on Dec. 3. Despite the gap in time, not much changed between the two games as the Lakers were just as, if not more, dominant the second time of asking.

In the first men’s basketball game in the Max Ziel Gymnasium since Dec. 2, Oswego State got off to a quick start thanks to a nearly immediate three-pointer from senior guard Kaleb Cook. This basket was merely a glimpse of what was to come from Cook in the game.

As Cook emerged as the galivanting force behind the Lakers in the opening half, his teammates played their part just as well as they jumped ahead 26-16 with just over nine minutes left in the half. It was at this point the floodgates opened. Following the nifty three-point play that Cook forced to push the lead to double digits, Oswego State went go on a huge 19-6 scoring run, the momentum of which was only stopped after Buffalo State’s DaRon Hughey scored his side’s first three-point basket of the night with only two minutes remaining in the first half.

The basket put a crucial stop to the bleeding of the Bengals. However, the Lakers still piled on four more points for good measure at the dying moments of the half as they took a 49-29 lead into halftime. At the break, the field goal percentages for both teams were closer than the 20-point lead suggested. It was after the intermission where the Lakers started to put on a show.

The second half got underway and without skipping a beat, Oswego State made sure to put a cap on the game early. The immediate 31-3 scoring run by the hosts pushed the lead to 80-32 with Cook and junior guard Jeremiah Sparks at the center of the action. Scoring his first points in this run was sophomore guard Cam Chance.

In his first year with the Lakers, Chance was used scarcely, recording a season-highs of five points, four rebounds and one assist with his season high of minutes played in a game sat at 12. This season couldn’t be more different. Chance has exploded onto the scene setting new collegiate career-highs in all but three categories against Buffalo State. Oswego State head coach Jason Leone praised the physicality of Chance and said how the energy he brings into every play makes all the difference.

“The things that we ask Cam [Chance] to do, they involve physicality and effort,” Leone said. “Right now, at that position he’s giving us a lot of consistency in those two areas … it doesn’t happen by chance that 18 balls are going to end up in your hands. You have to exert effort.”

In the later stages of the game, the Lakers rode off the raw energy that Chance emanated. Some late baskets from Rowback and junior guard Sean Edwards rounded off the night as the Lakers recorded a new season high in points with the 112-54 win.

The next day SUNY Geneseo came to town. Sporting a 5-6 record, the Knights came off the back of a one-point loss to SUNY Brockport the day before.

Yet again, Oswego State started off hot, this time driven by sophomore guard Ahkee Anderson. He and Sparks blitzed Geneseo before they could get comfortable as the two combined for the first 18 points of the game. With the score at 18-6, both teams traded brief scoring runs. Every time the Lakers established a daunting lead, the Knights fought back. It was only a matter of time before the deficit was too much to surmount for the away side.

It was late in the half when Rowback drained his first three-pointer of the night. He finished the half with 12 points, all made up of shots from deep. While it took some time to get adjusted to the Lakers scheme, Leone said Rowback has grown into his role and will continue to put up big numbers.

“I think what you’ve seen up to this point in the year, he’s slowly but surely getting more comfortable in understanding what his role is, where his shots are going to come from and he’s playing a lot looser,” Leone said. “I think you’re only going to see his numbers increase from here on out.”

Thanks to Rowback’s proficiency from three-point land, Oswego State finished the half on a 17-6 run. A Devin Green layup dropped right before the break as the Lakers led 45-28, nearly securing 20-point leads going into halftime in back-to-back games.

There was no immediate hot start for the Lakers after the pause this time around as both teams traded buckets after emerging from their respective locker rooms. The lead easily stayed in Oswego State’s favor during this as they refused to give more than an inch of progress to its opposition.

With just over 12 minutes left to play, Rowback emerged again as he continued to establish himself behind the arc in the game. Green and Sparks also managed to get in on the late game action as they put their stamp on the game. Following Rowback’s record-tying bucket, he padded his performance with two level-headed free throws which pushed his points total to 29 on the night.

As the final horn blew, Oswego State secured yet another victory by a score of 86-63. With the win, the Lakers’ win streak increased to eight games following the early season SUNYAC loss to SUNY Brockport on Dec. 2. However, there remains little time for celebration as the team travels to SUNY Cortland on Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m.

The Red Dragons currently sit one spot above the Lakers in SUNYAC rankings with a perfect conference record. If the Lakers manage to topple the leaders of the pack, they will take poll position in the standings. However, to do that Leone said that they will need to find a way to stop Austin Grunder, who averages nearly 23 points and 11 rebounds per game and the opportunities he opens up for his teammates.

Photo provided by: Jarrad Wakefield (Instagram: @jarrad_wakefield)