CORTLAND, N.Y. - Justin Summers scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Hamed Shamseldin finished with 20 points, seven assists, six steals and five rebounds as Brockport defeated host Cortland, 66-53, to close the SUNYAC men's basketball regular season.
Brockport (19-6, 14-4 SUNYAC) clinched the second seed in next week's six-team SUNYAC tournament and earned a bye into the league semifinals. Cortland (18-7, 13-5 SUNYAC) is the third seed and will host sixth-seeded Oneonta in the quarterfinals Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., following the Cortland women's 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal contest.
Cortland led for more than three-fourths of the first half, but never by more than seven points. Brockport came back and took a 33-32 halftime lead on Shamseldin's 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining.
The Golden Eagles opened the second half on a 9-0 run, featuring four points from Summers and a 3-pointer by David Clark, to go up 42-32. Cortland closed to within six twice, the last on
Carrel Joseph's (Deer Park) dunk with 12:28 left, but the Red Dragons managed to score only two points over the next five minutes. Brockport also struggled offensively during that stretch and led by only 12 with 7:33 remaining, but Cortland was only able to get to within single digits one time at 62-53 on a
James Morales (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) 3-pointer with 29 seconds left.
Cortland shot 6-of-11 from the 3-point line in the first half, but only 1-of-12 in the second half to finish at 30 percent. The Red Dragons ended at 36 percent shooting from the field overall. Brockport shot 45 percent from the floor.
Morales led Cortland with 21 points.
Justin Cooper (Pine Plains/Stissing Mountain) ended with 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists, and
Zach Lydon (Elizaville/Stissing Mountain) totaled eight points and 11 rebounds.
Summers shot 11-for-18 from the field and added seven rebounds to his 22-point effort for Brockport. Michael O'Hara chipped in with nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.
Prior to the game, Cortland honored its seniors Morales, Joseph and
DaVaughn Johnson (Harlem/Henry Street School), along with student assistant coach Michael Graney. Johnson scored four points on 2-of-3 shooting in five minutes and Joseph scored five points and pulled down four rebounds.
