CORTLAND, N.Y. – Senior
Justin Cooper (Pine Plains/Stissing Mountain) scored 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds as Cortland held off visiting Geneseo, 74-65, in a SUNYAC men's basketball matchup.
Nicky Bonura (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) added 14 points for the Red Dragons (3-2, 1-1 SUNYAC).
Kenny Charles (Huntington) finished with seven points, all in the second half, along with five rebounds and three assists and
Zach Lydon (Elizaville/Stissing Mountain) scored seven points and hauled in five rebounds.
Terrance Nichols scored 17 points, all but two on 3-pointers, for Geneseo (3-3, 0-2 SUNYAC). Zack Panebianco tallied 12 points and Terence Rogers scored 10 points. Joseph Harclerode II paced the Knights with 12 rebounds and three assists.
Cortland led 34-25 at halftime and by as many as 15 points in the second half. The lead was at 13 points at 54-41 with 11:38 left, but Geneseo outscored the Red Dragons 18-4 over the next six minutes and took a 59-58 lead on Harclerode's 3-pointer with 5:49 left.
The lead changed hands three times over the next two minutes. Cooper gave Cortland a 62-61 lead on two free throws with 4:11 left and
Ryan Schmadel's (Oriskany) in-close shot with 3:40 left pushed the lead to three. Nichols hit a jumper for the Knights with 3:21 left, but Charles buried a 3-pointer from the left corner to give Cortland a 67-63 lead with 2:54 on the clock.
Geneseo missed two shots on its next trip down the floor and Bonura nailed a trey with 1:31 left to extend the lead to seven. Cooper made four of his five free throw attempts over the last 1:17 to secure the win and finished the game 9-of-10 from the stripe.
Cortland shot 42 percent from the field and 13-of-18 (72 percent) from the foul line and committed only seven turnovers. The Red Dragons held the Knights to 33 percent shooting overall, although they did made 11-of-31 from 3-point range (36 percent) and 12-of-14 (86 percent) from the line.
Cortland will travel to Fredonia Friday and Buffalo State Saturday for SUNYAC contests.
