ONEONTA, N.Y. – Joseph Bull and Tyler Harts each scored 16 points as Oneonta defeated visiting Cortland, 72-64, in SUNYAC men's basketball action.
Oneonta upped its overall record to 11-6 and is third in the SUNYAC standings with a 7-3 mark. Cortland fell to 12-6 overall and is fourth in the league at 7-4.
Bull finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and six assists. Harts made three 3-pointers in his 16-point effort, and Frankie Williams was 4-for-9 from 3-point territory and ended with 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Daniel Derice added nine points and Michael Ortale had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) led Cortland with 22 points and 14 rebounds. He has now scored 1,506 career points, 19 shy of tying Jesse Winter's school record. Grunder will have a chance to break the record at home when the Red Dragons host Potsdam Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Aaron Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) made 6-of-8 shots from the field and finished with 14 points.
Cam Williams (Rome/Rome Free Academy) hit three 3-pointers in a 13-point effort, and
Kareem Lubin (Monroe/Washingtonville) finished with eight points and six rebounds.
Neither team led by more than seven points until two free throws in the last five seconds created the final eight-point margin. Oneonta led 31-28 at halftime, but Cortland started the second half on an 11-3 run, highlighted by a
Danny Linehan (Blauvelt/Tappan Zee) 4-point play, to take a 39-34 lead.
The game remained close throughout, with Cortland's last lead coming at 49-48 on two Grunder foul shots with 10:32 left. The game was tied at 51-51 when Grunder hit a layup with 9:53 remaining, but Oneonta scored the next seven points on a Williams 3-pointer, a Caleb Brown basket and an Ortale layup to go up 58-51 with 6:02 remaining.
Cortland eventually got back to within 61-58 on a Coston layup with 4:01 left, and the Red Dragons had a chance to tie the game but missed a 3-pointer on their next possession. Bull's 3-pointer with 2:44 left pushed the Oneonta lead to six. Grunder made two free throws with 2:24 left, but Cortland missed a layup on its next possession and Williams buried a trey with 1:11 remaining to give Oneonta a seven-point cushion. Cortland got no closer than five from that point.
Oneonta finished 42 percent from the floor and 11-of-30 (37 percent) from the arc. Cortland shot 40 percent overall and 27 percent (6-of-22) from deep.
