BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Junior Dustin Marshall (Newfield) led a balanced scoring attack with 16 points as Cortland defeated host Brockport, 76-68, in a battle of the top two teams in the SUNYAC standings. The Red Dragons are now 11-6 overall and move closer to the Golden Eagles in the league with a 7-3 mark. Brockport is 12-5 overall and 8-2 in the SUNYAC, with both of its league losses coming versus Cortland.
Marshall made 6-of-9 field goals and also finished with seven rebounds and three assists. In all, six Red Dragons scored at least nine points. Sophomore Brian Manning (Elmira/Elmira Southside) hit 4-of-6 three-pointers and finished with a career-high 14 points. Freshman Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) tallied 12 points and freshman Jeremy Smith (Bronx/Riverdale Kingsbridge) added 10 points.
Senior Paul Oliver (Phoenix) recorded nine points, three assists and a game-high 14 rebounds. Junior Ron Evans (New Hartford) also scored nine points and senior Ben Nagle (Rochester/Aquinas Institute) finished with 11 rebounds and a career-best six assists.
Gerald Williams (Rochester/Charlotte) paced Brockport with 14 points, including 3-of-7 shooting from behind the three-point arc. Francisco Lantigua (Jamestown) scored 12 points and distributed four assists and Brandon Williams (Rochester/Wilson) added 11 points.
Cortland led practically the entire contest. Brockport held its final lead at 3-2 with 17:46 left in the first half. The Red Dragons established a 10-point lead at 20-10 on a Manning trey with 10:16 left in the half, but the Golden Eagles got back with 28-27 on a Josh Zenkel (Webster/Webster Thomas) layup with 2:09 left.
Cortland, however, responded with three-pointers by Smith and Marshall, and a Marshall layup with 47 seconds remaining gave the guests a 36-29 lead at halftime. Cortland then started the second half on an 11-0 run, featuring five points from Evans and four from Winter, and led 47-29 with 16:04 left.
The Red Dragons’ largest lead was 50-30 after a Manning three-pointer with 14:23 remaining, and the lead was still 16 points at 67-51 with 4:56 on the clock. Brockport fought back from that point, eventually getting as close as six points at 72-66 on a Williams trey with 1:03 left. Marshall, however, made a foul shot with 57 seconds left and a layup off a Nagle feed with 48 seconds remaining to help close out the win.
Cortland shot 50 percent from the field (25-of-50), including 45 percent (9-of-20) from three-point range. The Red Dragons also made 74 percent from the foul line (17-of-23) and outrebounded the shorter Golden Eagles 47-27. None of Brockport’s starters is taller than 6’ 0”.
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