OSWEGO, N.Y. - Brian Sortino scored 20 points and Oswego held off a Cortland second-half rally to defeat the Red Dragons, 61-57, in the SUNYAC opener for both teams.
Sortino hit 4-of-8 shots from the 3-point arc, but only 7-of-19 overall field goals, and also grabbed four rebounds. Keith Tyson finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, Jamir Ferebee added 10 points, and Mykeele Krecko led the Lakers (5-2, 1-0 SUNYAC) with 13 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Cortland (3-2, 0-1 SUNYAC) was led by
Justin Cooper's (Pine Plains/Stissing Mountain) 18 points and three assists, although the Lakers held him to 5-of-15 accuracy from the floor.
Nicky Bonura (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) scored 13 points off the bench on 5-of-8 shooting (3-of-5 from 3-point range) and
James Morales (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) finished with 11 points.
Michael Kelly (Monroe/Burke Catholic) led the Red Dragons with eight rebounds.
Cortland, which never led in the game, trailed 31-23 at halftime and 37-23 two minutes into the second half. The Red Dragons closed within 38-33 with 15:37 left on a 10-1 run that featured five points each from Cooper and Morales, and the game remained tight from that point.
Oswego held a 53-45 lead on a Sortino 3-pointer with 5:15 left. The Lakers' lead hovered between three and six points over the next four-plus minutes. Cortland trailed 59-53 with 48 seconds left after two Ferebee free throws, but Cooper made two foul shots with 29.1 seconds remaining. Cortland then forced a 10-second violation, and Cooper's driving layup with 15 seconds left made it a 59-57 game.
Ian Schupp made one of two free throws with 14 seconds left to put the hosts up by three. Cortland missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer, and was then called for a travel with four seconds left after securing the offensive rebound. Sortino made the second of two free throws with three seconds remaining to seal Oswego's victory.
Both defenses played well as Oswego finished the game shooting 33 percent overall (35 percent from three) and Cortland shot 30 percent overall (35 percent from three).
Cortland will travel to New Paltz for a SUNYAC game on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
