CORTLAND, N.Y. – Plattsburgh junior guard Steve Thomas (Plattsburgh/Northern Adirondack) scored 23 points, including a tie-breaking three-pointer with one minute, 11 seconds remaining, as the Cardinals defeated Cortland, 69-65, in a SUNYAC contest.

Plattsburgh (15-7, 10-5 SUNYAC) overcame a 21-point first-half deficit to move into a tie with Cortland (14-8, 10-5 SUNYAC) for third place in the league standings. Brockport leads the tight conference race with an 11-4 record, followed by Oneonta at 11-5 and Plattsburgh and Cortland both at 10-5. Cortland has three league games remaining, all on the road next week versus Oneonta, Buffalo State and Fredonia.

Chris Ruiz (Bronx/St. Agnes) scored 21 points for Plattsburgh and surpassed the career 1,000-point milestone. He reached the milestone on his last basket, a jumper with 3:45 left that tied the game at 61-61. Plattsburgh trailed the entire contest prior to that shot. Ruiz and Thomas each finished with three made three-pointers.

Junior Dustin Marshall (Newfield) and junior Ron Evans (New Hartford) led Cortland with 14 points apiece. Senior Ben Nagle (Rochester/Aquinas Institute) made 5-of-6 shots and finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Cortland led 36-15 on a Marshall layup with 4:42 left in the first half, but the Cardinals finished the half on a 15-4 run, including nine points by Thomas, and trailed by only 10 at halftime.

The Red Dragons shot 67 percent in the first half (16-of-24) and 53 percent for the game, but turned the ball over 20 times to just nine Plattsburgh giveaways. The Cardinals slowly pecked away at their deficit in the second half and were within 58-53 on a Thomas layup with 10:02 left.

Evans hit a three-pointer with 9:42 left to give Cortland a 61-53 lead, but the Red Dragons did not score another field goal until an Evans jumper with 3:24 left gave them their final lead at 63-61.

Errol Daniyan (Coram/Longwood) tied the game with a layup off a Ruiz feed with 1:51 left and Cortland turned the ball over 17 seconds later. Ruiz also set up the Thomas go-ahead three-pointer at the 1:11 mark. Cortland missed a trey with 50 seconds remaining but grabbed the offensive rebound. Ruiz, however, stole a pass and Cortland fouled with 33 seconds left. Plattsburgh missed the front end of a one-and-one to give Cortland another chance, but the Red Dragons couldn't convert on a short shot with 15 seconds left. Farris Thomas (Wyandanch/Upper Room Christian) helped seal the victory with two foul shots with 13 seconds on the clock.

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