The Oswego State men’s basketball team continued their run of excellent form as they handedly defeated Plattsburgh State 97-61.
Prior to tip-off, star guard Jeremiah Sparks was given an outstanding ovation as he celebrated surpassing the 1,000-point mark in his college career with his head coach Jason Leone. Over the past four games Sparks has averaged 24 points to go along with 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
The game started as a number of Oswego State’s games have so far this season, with the scores close in the early stages followed by a deluge of Laker buckets. However, Plattsburgh refused to be put away without a fight. Out of the gates, the Cardinals attempted to use a fast-break offense to their benefit. This saw some success as they were able to catch out the Lakers defense at times.
Eventually, Oswego State figured out how to stop the fast break and built a decent lead. What the Lakers did not anticipate was the production of Plattsburgh’s Sheriff Conteh. Nine straight points for the Cardinals were scored by Conteh which diminished the Oswego State lead. In response, Oswego State stepped on the gas as they ran the score up with a 27-8 point run to give themselves a 52-33 lead at the half.
Clearly not fazed by reaching the 1,000-point milestone, Sparks had another stellar half of scoring. With 16 points in the first half led all scorers for the Lakers in the first half and was more than any single Plattsburgh player recorded in the entire game. Oswego State head coach Jason Leone praised Sparks and the tear that he has been on over the last few games.
“There’s nobody on our team who puts more time into this than he does,” Leone said. “The thing with Jeremiah [Sparks], he’s a two-way player. He’s dominant on both ends of the court and that’s what I think makes him special.”
The second half started just like the first had ended, with the Lakers going on a massive points run. This time, outsourcing their opponents 21-6 in the first eight minutes.
A shift to a full court press by Oswego State drained the Plattsburgh defense which put up little to no resistance for the rest of the game. At the final buzzer the scoreboard displayed a 97-61 victory for the Lakers, who, with the win, moved their win streak to 13 games.
Leone was happy with his team’s consistent offense throughout the game but remained adamant that his team’s defense needs to improve.
“I’m happy we won, we’re doing some great things offensively and actually we played better defensively in the second half,” Leone said. “But we’re not where we need to be in order to win games against great teams in March, that’s my concern.”
The Lakers next take on SUNY Potsdam on Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. and will look to complete the conference sweep of the Bears in the same weekend they closed out the Cardinals.
Photo provided by oswegolakers.com
