CORTLAND, N.Y. – Freshman
Aaron Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) scored a career-high 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting from the field as Cortland knocked off visiting Oneonta, 66-58, in a SUNYAC men's basketball contest.
Cortland moved into third place in the SUNYAC standings with a 10-4 league record (15-6 overall), one half game ahead of Oneonta (13-7, 9-4 SUNYAC). Cortland will host fifth-place New Paltz Saturday at 4 p.m.
Coston scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half.
Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) added 15 points and eight rebounds and
Kareem Lubin (Monroe/Washingtonville) scored eight points. Cortland shot 59 percent from the field in the second half and ended the game at 44 percent overall and 42 percent (5-of-12) from the 3-point arc.
Graham Wooden hit 4-of-8 3-pointers and led Oneonta with 16 points. Daniel Derice scored 12 points and hauled in eight rebounds, Frankie Williams finished with nine points, five rebounds and a team-high four assists, and Michael Ortale, Jr. led the guests with 11 rebounds. Oneonta shot 42 percent overall and 38 percent (6-of-16) from deep.
Oneonta led by as many as seven points in the first half and took a 27-22 lead into the halftime locker room. Cortland, however, outscored Oneonta 21-1 over the first 9:14 of the second half to go up by 15 points, 43-28. Coston scored nine points,
Kendall Arcuri (Staten Island/St. Joseph by the Sea) tallied five points and Grunder scored four points during that run, with the other three points coming on a
Cal Shifflet (Buffalo/Williamsville East) 3-pointer.
Oneonta responded with a 19-7 run over the next five and a half minutes, capped by a Wooden 3-pointer, to pull within three at 50-47. The visiting Red Dragons got as close as two points at 52-50 on a Wooden trey with 3:44 left, but Coston hit a layup with 3:18 remaining followed by a Grunder layup with 2:44 left to push the lead to six.
Isaiah Preston's (Penfield) 3-point play with 1:21 remaining gave Cortland a 61-52 lead and the margin remained at five or more the rest of the game.
