After shaking off some early rust, the Oswego State men’s basketball team burst to life as they dominated the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons 102-62 on senior day.

Devin Green was the lone senior being honored on the day. This season the guard has recorded personal highs of 34 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. Green also tied the Lakers’ single-game record for 3-pointers in a game with eight. Green was given a hero’s ovation by the near 400 people in attendance at the Max Ziel Gymnasium as he was pictured with his family and Lakers head coach Jason Leone who said how great it has been to coach a player like him.

“He’s been such an injection of life and enthusiasm into our program,” Leone said. “He’s a completely unselfish player who would average over 20 [points] per game at some other places. He’s just a winning player and I’m going to miss coaching him.”

Green was one of five Lakers to reach double-digit points on the night against the Red Dragons. However, it took some time for himself and the Lakers to get going. For about eight minutes the contest was relatively even as the Lakers’ extremely early 7-0 lead was erased by Cortland. Luckily, the Lakers’ excellent defense made up for their inability to see any significant baskets fall in the beginning stages.

With the scores deadlocked, luck began to shift in Oswego State’s favor. Over the next seven minutes, the Lakers would take over and go on a 23-6 run. 

The only Red Dragon who managed to intermittently disrupt the run was former back-to-back SUNYAC men’s basketball player of the week, Austin Grunder. The forward recorded 24 points on the night, an even better performance than he had last time against the Lakers where he dropped 20 points. However, it was the lack of production from anyone else but Grunder that allowed the Lakers to run the floor on the night.

The remaining minutes in the half were just as bountiful for Oswego State as another big point run of 18-8 saw them post a near 30-point lead at halftime. This particular scoring run was headlined by junior guard Sean Edwards. A deep 3-pointer was followed up by a high-IQ steal-and-score as Cortland tried to beat the high press. On the very next possession, junior forward Cartier Bowman would swipe the ball away for another steal and find Edwards for another layup that caused the gym to erupt in celebration. Edwards scored seven points in a matter of 30 seconds. The final action of the half was another Grunder 3-pointer that was all but in vain as the Lakers took a huge 54-28 lead into the locker room.

Of the 28 points that Cortland had recorded in the first half, 17 were scored by Grunder alone. The only other Red Dragons to record points were Cam Williams and Kareem Lubin.

While the Lakers only had one player reach double figures in the first half as well, unlike their counterparts, the rest of the team was in on the act of scoring. Edwards recorded ten points in the half, followed by junior guard Jeremiah Sparks who recorded nine, sophomore guard Ahkee Anderson with eight and Green with seven.

The second half was more of the same from the Lakers: near-flawless offense complimented by sturdy defense. An opening layup by senior forward Jamal Achille were followed by two more baskets from Grunder, which would be his last field goals of the game. Green then sparked another large run of 22-3 that would put a nearly 40-point gap between Oswego State and Cortland. From here, the Lakers were able coast comfortably to victory.

For the remaining ten minutes of the game, Oswego State and Cortland traded baskets. The Lakers lead would occasionally jump into the mid-40s but would not stay there consistently as Cal Shifflet came off the bench and made a good impact for the Red Dragons, scoring nine points in the last three minutes of the game. Despite this impressive individual surge from Shifflet the deficit remained insurmountable as Oswego State would take the win 102-62 in their last home game of the regular season.

Leone was happy with his team’s performance. He was particularly happy with the depth of his team and how it has improved as the season has progressed.

“The thing that I’m happy about is that we have a lot of guys playing well,” Leone said. “Our depth has developed as the year has gone on so that when we get into these games and we’re going to our bench [we have players like] Kaleb Cook who had 16 points [tonight] and [Sean] Edwards who had ten in the first half, it’s terrific.”

The Lakers hit the road for their last two games of the regular season, the first of which is against SUNY Brockport on Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Oswego State can clinch the No.1 seed in the SUNYAC playoffs with a win over the Golden Eagles, ensuring that the road to the SUNYAC crown runs through the Max Ziel Gymnasium.

Photo provided by: Nate Zim

Lakers guard Jeremiah Sparks (#23), uses fancy dribble moves to attempt to get around the Oneonta defender.