CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland outscored Elmira 53-30 in the second half to pull away from a three-point halftime lead and the Red Dragons defeated the Soaring Eagles, 84-58, in a non-league contest. Sophomores Mike Lewis (Central Square) and Will Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) led Cortland (2-0) with 15 points apiece. Lewis also finished with seven rebounds.

Coston scored 13 points in the second half and his 15 total points eclipses his career high for the second straight game. Freshman Ron Evans (New Hartford) scored 11 points, all in the second half, senior Derrick Fish (Locust Valley) scored a career-best nine points and handed out four assists and senior Mark Schaller (Rochester/Greece Athena) had a game-high six assists.

David Nelson (Bainbridge/Bainbridge-Guilford) led Elmira (0-2) with 16 points and five rebounds and Chris Henderson (West Bridgewater, MA/Coyle Cassidy) scored 11 points and dished out four assists.

The first half was closely contested throughout. Elmira took the largest lead of the period at 22-17 on a Nelson three-pointer with 3:51 left, but Cortland responded with a 9-2 run, capped by a Lewis three-point play, and led 26-24 with 1;26 left. Nelson hit three free throws with 34 seconds left to give the Soaring Eagles its final lead at 27-26. Trailing by one, Elmira made one free throw with six seconds left but missed the second. Lewis rebounded the ball and got the ball to Fish, who drove downcourt and sank a long three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Red Dragons a 31-28 lead.

Cortland pushed its lead to double-figures in the first six minutes of the second half and led by at least 20 points over the final 11:25. Elmira finished the game with 21 turnovers, 10 in the second half, while the hosts committed only one of its eight turnovers after halftime.

Cortland shot 68 percent from the floor in the second half, including 6-of-9 from three-point range, and finished the game at 52 percent. The Red Dragons also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and held a 20-4 advantage in “second-chance” points.

Cortland returns to action Saturday at 8 p.m. versus host Rochester in the opening round of the Holiday Inn Airport Tournament. The Red Dragons will play either Ohio Wesleyan or Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) on Sunday.