CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland men's basketball team earned a berth into the six-team SUNYAC playoff field with a 74-66 victory over visiting Geneseo in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Cortland, Geneseo and Potsdam entered the day tied for fifth place in the league with 9-8 records. By the time the Cortland-Geneseo game tipped off, Potsdam had already won its game at New Paltz to secure a playoff spot and setting up a "winner-take-all" scenario for the Red Dragons and Knights. With the win, Cortland (14-11, 10-8 SUNYAC) tied Potsdam for fifth place and will be the fifth seed due to a season sweep of the Bears. Cortland will travel to fourth-seeded New Paltz for the first round Tuesday at 7 p.m. 
 
Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) led Cortland with 34 points and 10 rebounds. He was 14-of-22 from the field, matching his career high for made field goals, and he was 6-for-6 from the foul line. Grunder reached the 30-point mark for the sixth time this season, all since Jan. 28, and he recorded his 15th double-double of the season (including a triple-double two weeks ago). 
 
Danny Linehan (Blauvelt/Tappan Zee) finished with 13 points, AJ Lawton (Saratoga Springs) scored 12 points on 4-of-7 accuracy from 3-point range, and Kareem Lubin (South Blooming Grove/Washingtonville) totaled 12 points, six rebounds, six assists and a career-high tying three blocked shots. Humberto Cabrera (Millbrook) grabbed a career-best seven rebounds. 
 
Michael Gannon finished with 15 points and seven rebounds and Cole Kattan had 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting along with a team-high eight rebounds for Geneseo (11-3, 9-9 SUNYAC). Harrison Dignan added 12 points, six assists and three steals and Ethan St. Lucia contributed 11 points and seven rebounds. Raymond Grabowski finished with five assists. 
 
Cortland led 49-41 at halftime after each team enjoyed a hot first half from the 3-point arc. The Knights made 11-of-21 treys in the opening 20 minutes while the host Red Dragons hit 9-of-18 threes, including all four of Lawton's makes. The difference in the first half was Cortland shooting 60 percent overall (18-of-30) compared to Geneseo's 47 percent (15-of-32). 
 
Both teams cooled down, however, in the first 11 minutes of the second half. Neither team scored in the first 3:57 of the period before a St. Lucia layup drew Geneseo within six. With nine minutes remaining, Cortland led 55-48 with Geneseo holding just a 7-6 scoring edge for the period at that point. 
 
Cortland's key run came from the nine-minute mark until the 5:55 mark as the Red Dragons extended their lead to 66-52 with an 11-4 spurt. Linehan scored Cortland's first four points in that stretch and Grunder tallied the final seven points. The lead remained at eight points or better the remainder of the contest.

The teams combined to commit only eight turnovers in the game - four by each squad.

Prior to the game, Cortland honored seniors Lawton and Riley McEvoy (Homer). McEvoy finished the game with five rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.