CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland shot 61 percent from the field, including 88 percent (21-of-24) in the first 16 minutes of the second half, and the Red Dragons cruised past visiting Geneseo, 93-55, in the opening round of the 2023 SUNYAC men's basketball tournament.
Cortland (19-7), seeded third in the six-team field, advances to face second-seeded Brockport Friday at 5:30 p.m. in a semifinal game at SUNY Oswego. The host Lakers are the top seed and will face fifth-seeded New Paltz in the second semifinal game at 7:30 p.m., and the title game is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m., also at Oswego. New Paltz won 72-48 at Oneonta on Tuesday. Oswego and Brockport earned byes into the semifinals.
Six players, including all five starters, scored in double figures for Cortland.
Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) led the Red Dragons with 24 points and 14 rebounds. He was 9-for-14 from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
Kareem Lubin (Monroe/Washingtonville) hit 7-of-12 shots and finished with 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds, and
Aaron Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) made all six of his field goals and ended with 15 points.
Cam Williams (Rome/Rome Free Academy) shot 5-for-9 from the field and ended with 11 points, eight rebounds and career-high tying totals of four assists and three steals.
Isaiah Preston (Penfield) made 3-of-4 3-pointers and ended with a career-high 10 points along with a career-high tying six assists.
Kendall Arcuri (Staten Island/St. Joseph by the Sea) made all three of his 3-point attempts, all in the first half, and finished with 10 points.
Kevin Ranaghan led sixth-seeded Geneseo (11-15) with 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting and Ethan St. Lucia made three treys and scored 11 points. Cole Kattan dished out four assists.
The teams got off to a slow start, with Cortland leading by only an 8-3 count eight minutes into the game. The Red Dragons slowly built a double-figure lead, highlighted by three straight Arcuri 3-pointers between the 5:51 and 4:33 mark that gave Cortland a 30-17 advantage. The hosts led 36-22 at halftime.
Cortland hit 12 of its first 13 shots in the second half and pushed its lead to 68-34 with 10:38 remaining. The Red Dragons were 21-of-24 in the period before replacing most of their starters with 4:12 left. Cortland finished the second half at 73 percent (22-of-30) and ended the game shooting 36-of-59 overall and 14-of-29 (48 percent) from 3-point range. Geneseo shot 40 percent overall and 25 percent (6-of-24) from the arc.
