CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit and the Red Dragons defeated visiting Plattsburgh, 78-74, in the SUNYAC men's basketball opener for both teams. 
 
Jaylen Warmack (Utica/Utica Notre Dame) and Aaron Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) led Cortland (3-2, 1-0 SUNYAC) with 22 points and seven rebounds apiece. Warmack made 8-of-12 shots and Coston went 10-of-14 from the field. Kendall Arcuri (Staten Island/St. Joseph by the Sea) finished with eight points, five assists and a career-high tying seven rebounds. Danny Linehan (Blauvelt/Tappan Zee) also scored eight points and Gerrad Beaubrun (Baldwin) made both of his 3-point attempts and finished with seven points and three rebounds. Kareem Lubin (Monroe/Washingtonville) chipped in with seven points.
 
Willard Anderson Jr. led four double-figure scorers for Plattsburgh (2-4, 0-1 SUNYAC) with 22 points. He also registered three assists, three steals and five rebounds. Dylan Trombley ended with 17 points and eight rebounds, Sasha Vidrini scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Kevin Tabb totaled 11 points, four steals and three assists. 
 
Cortland opened the game on an 11-0 run on seven points from Warmack and four from Coston, but Plattsburgh dominated the remainder of the first half and led 44-35 at the break. The Cardinals then scored 10 of the first 12 points of the second half and held a 54-37 advantage with 17:02 left. 
 
Following a timeout, Cortland scored the game's next 13 points, capped by Beaubrun's 3-pointer with 13:55 left, to cut the Cardinals' lead to four at 54-50. The game remained tight from that point, with Cortland finally knotting the game at 62-62 on a Coston foul shot with 6:13 left and taking the lead on Coston's layup with 4:49 remaining. 
 
Cortland led 68-62 on an Arcuri put-back with 3:20 remaining, but Plattsburgh eventually clawed back to within 69-68 on two Trombley free throws with 1:49 on the clock. Linehan buried a 3-pointer with 1:28 left to push the lead back to four. Plattsburgh drew within two points three times after that, the last at 76-74 after Tabb made two free throws with less than 14 seconds remaining. Arcuri sealed the win with two foul shots with less than 10 seconds on the clock. 
 
Cortland shot 65 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game at 55 percent. Plattsburgh hit 53 percent of its shots in the first half but only 33 percent in the second to end at 43 percent.  
 
Cortland will host Potsdam Saturday at 4 p.m.