SUNY Cortland Athletics

BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Cortland men's basketball team battled back from a 14-point halftime deficit but couldn't overtake Brockport in the finals of the ECAC Upstate New York Championship, falling to the Golden Eagles, 70-61. The Red Dragons completed their season with a 21-8 record, while Brockport also finished 21-8.

Sophomore Paul Oliver (Phoenix/John C. Birdlebough) followed up his career-high 28-point game versus Oswego in the semifinals with 20 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Freshman Ron Evans (New Hartford) added 14 points, and sophomore Mike Lewis (Central Square) contributed nine points, four rebounds and four assists.

Sherod Harris, who was named the Most Valuable Player, led the Golden Eagles with 18 points and also collected seven rebounds and five assists. Brandon Williams had 14 points and 13 rebounds, Jermaine Johnson chipped in with 12 points and Cantrel Parrish scored 10 points.

The game was tight throughout most of the first half with Brockport holding a 24-18 lead with four minutes remaining. The Golden Eagles, however, would close the half by outscoring Cortland, 10-2, and led 34-20.

The Red Dragons fought back to get to within 39-34 at the 13:25 mark of the second half on a three-pointer from Evans. Brockport managed to secure another double-digit lead, 50-40, but Cortland again pulled to within five after a trey from senior Mark Schaller (Rochester/Greece Athena) with 3:49 remaining. Back-to-back three-pointers by Aaron Poles and Harris quickly made it an 11-point lead for Brockport, but Cortland cut the lead to 67-61 on Oliver's layup with 35 seconds remaining. After Johnson hit 1-of-2 free throws for the Golden Eagles, Schaller missed a three. Cortland sophomore Will Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) grabbed the offensive rebound but Poles stole the ball and hit both shots from the charity stripe after a quick foul. Evans missed another three for Cortland and Harris pulled down the carom and Brockport ran out the clock.