SUNY Cortland Athletics

BROCKPORT, N.Y. - Sophomore Paul Oliver (Phoenix/John C. Birdlebough) scored a career-high 28 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to lead the Cortland men's basketball team to a 90-80 win versus Oswego in the ECAC Upstate New York semifinals. The Red Dragons (21-7) advance to meet Brockport in the finals tomorrow at 2 p.m.

Oliver led four Cortland players in double figures as the Red Dragons put up their second-highest point total of the season. Sophomore Mike Lewis (Central Square) scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and juniors Juan Miolan (Troy) and Carson Niehoff (West Islip) each contributed 12 points. Senior Derrick Fish (Locust Valley) collected a game-high seven assists, while senior Mark Schaller (Rochester/Greece Athena) added nine points, six rebounds and three assists.

Tommy Downing led Oswego with a career-best 38 points, including five three pointers, and pulled down seven rebounds. Mahamoud Jabbi scored 11 points and blocked five shots, and Dom White had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Lakers.

Cortland pulled away from a 14-14 tie with a 19-8 run over a six-minute span to grab a 33-22 lead with seven minutes, 45 seconds remaining in the opening half. Oliver scored six points and Niehoff added five during the spurt. Oswego could only get back to within seven points with 5:15 remaining, but the Red Dragons upped their lead to 47-35 at the half.

Cortland maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half, builing a 16-point lead, 71-55, with 9:31 left in the second half. The Lakers cut the lead to seven, 77-70, over the next five minutes and pulled to within 83-78 with 52 seconds on the clock, but Cortland knocked down 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

The Red Dragons shot 56.3 percent from the field in the game and outrebounded Oswego, 54-28.