PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - Plattsburgh rallied from a 21-point first-half deficit and the Cardinals edged visiting Cortland, 70-68, in a SUNYAC men's basketball matchup.
 
Cortland dropped to 9-9 overall and 8-3 in the SUNYAC. The Red Dragons slipped to second in the SUNYAC standings, a half game behind New Paltz (9-3). Plattsburgh improved to 10-8 overall and 7-4 in the league.
 
Cortland led 37-16 with four minutes left in the first half and still held a 53-38 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the game. Plattsburgh, however, went on a 15-0 run over the next six and a half minutes, tying the game at 53-53 on Sasha Vidrini's 3-pointer with 8:34 left.
 
Cortland answered with four points from Kendall Arcuri (Staten Island/St. Joseph by-the-Sea) on two free throws and a layup to take a 57-53 lead with 7:55 remaining. Plattsburgh eventually took its first lead of the night at 62-59 on Kareem Welch's 3-pointer with 4:27 left, but Aaron Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) hit a trey on the next Cortland possession to tie the game.
 
A Coston 3-pointer with 3:14 left gave Cortland its final lead of the night at 65-64 with 3:14 left. Welch hit a layup with 2:32 left to put the Cardinals back on top and Jeremiah Smith sank two free throws with 2:02 remaining to push the lead to 68-65.
 
Neither team scored again until the closing moments. Cortland turned the ball over with 13 seconds left and Kevin Tabb made two free throws to put Plattsburgh up by five. Cortland committed another turnover, but Plattsburgh missed the front end of a 1-and-1 to keep the margin at five.
 
Kendrick Wilson (Wheatley Heights/Moravian Prep (NC)) was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with three seconds left. He made the first free throw, missed the second and then missed the third. Joel Davis (Watertown) grabbed the rebound and hit a layup to cut the deficit to two with time nearly expired. Plattsburgh was able to successfully inbound the ball to run out the clock.
 
Coston led Cortland with 24 points, including 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. He also had six rebounds and two blocks. Arcuri scored 17 points and added eight rebounds and three steals. Isaiah Austin (Albany) scored 14 points, all in the first half, and also finished with four rebounds and four steals. He made four 3-pointers. Wilson led the Red Dragons with six assists.
 
Welch finished with 17 points and five rebounds for the hosts. Nate Pondexter Jr. added 14 points and six rebounds and Ikechukwu Ezike scored eight points and led the Cardinals with nine rebounds.
 
Cortland shot 45 percent in the first half but only 26 percent in the second to finish at 36 percent. Plattsburgh shot 35 percent in the opening 20 minutes and 46 percent in the second half and ended at 41 percent.
 
Cortland will play at Potsdam Saturday at 4 p.m.