CORTLAND, N.Y. – Freshman Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) hit a tiebreaking short jumper in the lane with 39 seconds left in overtime and Cortland defeated Oneonta, 66-61, in a matchup of SUNYAC foes. Cortland takes over second place in the league standings with a 6-3 record and is 10-6 overall. Oneonta drops into a tie for third place at 5-4 and is 12-4 overall.
Junior Dustin Marshall (Newfield) led all scorers with 18 points, including five in the extra session. He also finished with five steals and six rebounds. Winter scored 12 points and dished out six assists while senior Ben Nagle (Rochester/Aquinas Institute) recorded a game-high 11 rebounds.
Michael Grimes (Albany/Catholic Central) led Oneonta with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Brian Hooks (Cohoes/Shaker) totaled 14 points and Brian Beckford (Brooklyn/Christ the King) added 12 points and three assists.
Neither team led by more than six points the entire game, with Cortland’s largest advantage its final five-point margin of victory. Cortland led 32-29 at halftime, but Oneonta led 47-42 after a Hooks jumper with 9:05 remaining.
Cortland eventually closed to within 51-50 on a Ron Evans (New Hartford) three-pointer with 6:24 left and took a 52-51 lead on a Winter jumper with 4:12 left in regulation. Neither team scored again until Winter converted a layup with two minutes left to give the host Red Dragons a three-point lead.
Grimes knotted the game at 54-54, however, when he buried a three-pointer with 57 seconds left. Cortland turned the ball over with 46 seconds left, but Paul Oliver (Phoenix) blocked an Oneonta shot with 21 seconds left. Nagle’s driving layup attempt missed the mark with four seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Oliver’s 17-foot jumper and a Nagle layup staked Cortland to an early four-point lead in overtime. Oneonta fought back and eventually tied the game at 61-61 on a Beckford layup with 1:11 remaining. Winter’s short jumper bounced around and dropped in with the shot clock winding down to put Cortland ahead for good.
Oneonta’s attempt at a tying layup missed with 23 seconds left. Marshall missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Oneonta turned the ball over on the rebound. Marshall then made two foul shots with 18 seconds left to increase the lead to 65-61 and Nagle finished the scoring with one free throw with six seconds left after grabbing a rebound off an Oneonta missed field goal.
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