In a battle for the top spot in the SUNYAC, the Oswego State men’s basketball team emerged victorious after toppling SUNY Cortland 81-65.

Going into the game, the Lakers and Red Dragons were among three other teams in the league that had only one conference loss thus far into the season. While Cortland occupied the top spot, the resounding Lakers victory boosted them into that spot.

In front of a decent sized crowd at the home of the Red Dragons, the Lakers started off hot. Led by a perfect 4/4 start by junior forward Jeremiah Sparks, Oswego State held a near double-digit lead only seven minutes into the game. Oswego State head coach Jason Leone spoke on how his team knew they needed to get off on a quick start in order to get control of the game.

“We talk before every game about setting the terms of the game early. We want to play the way that benefits us,” Leone said. “It’s always better to play the game when you’re playing from ahead so that fast start was definitely to our advantage.”

Capitalizing on the lackadaisical defense of their opponents, the Lakers were proficient as they shot 50% from the field and 53.8% from three in the first half. Alongside Sparks, sophomore guard Joey Rowback was a crucial source of points for Oswego State in the half as his continued his three-point perfection dropped the heads of the Red Dragons.

On the other side of the court, all eyes were on Austin Grunder. The senior forward from Trumansburg averages a double-double per game and was at the center of defensive conversations by the Lakers in the week leading up to the match.

“We wanted the team to make sure they knew it wasn’t going to be a one-person job,” Leone said. “We were going to have to collectively contribute and we also had to make sure we kept out of foul trouble … He scored 20 points, but he had to take 16 shots to do it.”

Grunder was held to nine points in the first half as the rest of his team struggled to put together any offense without him. Late in the half the Lakers were determined to capitalize on the vein of success they had found on offense. In dazzling team fashion put together a 16-2 run that pushed the lead to 21 points. Part of the reason for this success was the margin of points from turnovers. While the Lakers had four turnovers through the entirety of the game, Cortland managed to rack up ten. It was the ten points that the Lakers secured off these turnovers that separated the sides as the Red Dragons only managed three points off turnovers on the other end.

A nifty spin-move and slam by junior forward Cartier Bowman capped off the half for the Lakers as they led 44-24 going into halftime. A matchup that was predicted to be a close affair threatened to turn into a blowout.

After the break, the Red Dragons went on a small 7-2 scoring run which cut the Lakers lead to only 15 points. However, that was about the closest the scores got for the rest of the game. The Lakers continued to show off their chemistry as they spread the ball around on offense. Each Oswego State player that saw the court on the day also found the bottom of the net. This included senior guard Devin Green. While he remained relatively quiet in the first half, he recorded 11 points in the second. Leone spoke about how Green’s ability to do it all on the court makes him so dangerous.

“He [Green] affects the game in a lot of different ways,” Leone said. “He’s a high assist guy, he’s a great rebounder and he’s very unselfish and I think that contributes to the high percentage he shoots because you have to account for him not only with shooting but with everything else he does with the ball in his hands.”

The remainder of the second half was much more back and forth with neither side going on any significant runs of points. This played favorably into the Lakers hands as they were able to see out the rest of the game.

With the sound of the final buzzer, the Lakers pushed their win streak to nine games and successfully jumped their opponents in the standings. With the loss, Cortland saw themselves fall to fourth in the SUNYAC after SUNY Brockport’s win against SUNY New Paltz saw them slide into second and SUNY Oneonta’s conference record of 6-1 keeps them ahead of Cortland

The Lakers next take on Oneonta away from home on Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Photo provided by: oswegolakers.com