CORTLAND, N.Y. – Six players scored in double figures as the Cortland men's basketball team defeated Medaille, 81-69, in an ECAC Upstate New York quarterfinal game Wednesday night at Corey Gymnasium. The Red Dragons improved to 20-7 with the victory and advance to meet the winner of Oswego and Cazenovia in a semifinal game Saturday at 6 p.m. at Brockport. The Mavericks ended their season at 15-13.
Freshman
Ron Evans (New Hartford) led Cortland with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while sophomores
Will Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) and
Mike Lewis (Central Square) chipped in with 13 points apiece. Lewis also added seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Junior
Carson Niehoff (West Islip) and sophomore
Paul Oliver (Phoenix/John C. Birdlebough) each netted 12 points, and junior
Juan Miolan (Troy) contributed 11 points. Oliver led Cortland with a game-high eight rebounds.
Sophomore Kelly Condello (Fairport) came off the Medaille bench to score a game-high 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor. Sophomore Keith Hack (Hopewell Junction/John Jay) added 15 points and six rebounds and senior James McNeil (Erie, PA/Northwest Collegiate Academy) had 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Mavericks opened up an early 7-1 lead and led by as many as 27-15 with eight minutes, 52 seconds remaining in the opening 20 minutes. Cortland cut the lead to three, but Medaille held a 35-28 advantage at intermission.
The Red Dragons quickly gained a 44-43 lead on Miolan's layup at 15:11, but Medaille rallied to grab a 52-44 lead at the 13:19 mark. Cortland then went on a game-changing 28-6 run in a six-minute span to take control of the game, 74-60. The Mavericks could get no closer to 11 points the rest of the way.