BUFFALO, N.Y. – Lovell Smith scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Buffalo State held off a late Cortland charge as the Bengals defeated the visiting Red Dragons, 60-54, in SUNYAC men's basketball action.
Buffalo State improved to 12-7 overall and moved into third place in the league with an 8-5 mark. Cortland dropped to 14-5 overall and is now in a three-way tie for fourth at 7-5 along with Geneseo and New Paltz.
Freshman
Carrel Joseph (Port-au-Prince, Haiti/Deer Park (NY)) led Cortland with career highs of 12 points and 12 rebounds. He made 5-of-6 shots from the floor. Senior
Lamard Herron (Westbury) finished with nine points, all in the second half, and reached the 1,000-point mark for his collegiate career. Herron has scored 1,005 points between his three seasons at Cortland (898) and one year at New Paltz (107). Freshman
James Morales (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) also scored nine points for the Red Dragons.
Smith was one of four Buffalo State double-figure scorers. Roderick Epps and Chris Cartwright each finished with 14 points and five rebounds, while Chris Thompson scored 10 points and led the Bengals with 13 rebounds and five blocked shots Cartwright hit three 3-pointers and also registered four assists and three steals.
Cortland trailed 23-10 with seven minutes left in the first half but got within eight at halftime and was down 36-30 with 13:40 remaining. The hosts quickly scored 10 straight points, including two Cartwright 3-pointers, and took a 46-30 advantage with 11:35 left.
The Red Dragons, however, responded with an 11-0 run over the next six minutes. Herron started the run with a 3-pointer, and his jumper with 5:39 left was his 1,000th point and drew Cortland within five at 46-41.
Cortland eventually cut its deficit to three at 49-46 on two Herron free throws with 3:09 left, but Epps hit a basket 10 seconds later, followed by baskets from Larry Rivers and Cartwright to put the Bengals up 55-46 with 1:50 on the clock. Cortland was able to fight back within five on three occasions after that but couldn't draw any closer.
Cortland will travel to Fredonia Saturday for a 2 p.m. game.
Box Score/Play-by-Play
