DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. - Cortland closed a 12-point deficit to four in the last four minutes but got no closer as the Red Dragons lost to Gustavus Adolphus College of Minnesota, 58-51, at the Florida Sunshine Shootout at Daytona Beach's Ocean Center.
 
Gustavus Adolphus improved to 10-1 with the victory. Cortland is now 6-3 and will return to action with a home SUNYAC game versus Fredonia on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at 6 p.m.
 
Aaron Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) led Cortland with 11 points and added seven rebounds. Kendall Arcuri (Staten Island/St. Joseph by-the-Sea) scored 10 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists. Nolan Raymond (Queens Village/Vermont Academy (VT)) finished with eight points, six rebounds and three assists and Joel Davis (Watertown) totaled seven points, eight rebounds and three steals.
 
Myles Barnette paced the Gusties with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting. He also had six rebounds and four steals. Eli Wolff made 3-of-6 3-pointers and finished with nine points, Carson Koch scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds, Jake Schmitt finished with eight points, five rebounds and four assists, and Connor Beauchamp tallied eight points.
 
Cortland led 10-4 midway through the first half but Gustavus Adolphus came back and led 20-18 at halftime. Both teams struggled with their shooting in the first half as Cortland was 6-of-20 from the floor and Gustavus Adolphus was 6-of-23.
 
Gustavus, however, found its shooting touch in the second half. After making only 1-of-9 shots from 3-point range in the opening half, the Gusties hit on 8-of-9 treys in the second half. Gustavus shot 65 percent overall (11-of-17) from the floor over the last 20 minutes and finished the game at 43 percent. Cortland improved to 37 percent (10-of-27) in the second half and finished the game at 28 percent both overall and from 3-point range (9-of-32).
 
The Gusties opened the second half on an 8-0 run, including two Wolff 3-pointers, to go up 28-18 with 16:57 left. Cortland got to within five points on three occasions over the next nine minutes, but Gustavus held a 52-40 lead with 3:56 remaining.
 
Cortland responded by scoring the next eight points. Raymond hit a 3-pointer and a layup to close the deficit to 52-45 with 2:38 left. Neither team scored again until Gavyn Pacheco (Hopewell Junction/John Jay-East Fishkill) hit a layup, was fouled, and converted the ensuing free throw to pull the Red Dragons to within four with 56 seconds left.
 
Gustavus used a Koch layup with 45 seconds left and two Barnette free throws with 34 seconds left to push its lead to eight at 56-48. Arcuri hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left and the Red Dragons stole the ball with 14 ticks left, but Cortland turned the ball back over and Schmitt hit two free throws with 10 seconds left to finish the scoring.