CORTLAND, N.Y. - The Cortland men's basketball team, seeded third in the six-team SUNYAC tournament, advanced to the semifinals with a 73-55 first-round victory over sixth-seeded Oneonta at Corey Gymnasium.
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Cortland (15-11) will face second-seeded Oswego in the semifinals Friday at 5:30 p.m. at top-seeded New Paltz. The host Hawks will face fourth-seeded Plattsburgh at 7:30 p.m., and the two winners will meet in the finals at New Paltz Saturday at 4 p.m.
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Kendall Arcuri (Staten Island/St. Joseph by-the-Sea) led Cortland with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting. He also pulled down five rebounds.
Aaron Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks and
Kendrick Wilson (Wheatley Heights/Moravian Prep (NC)) scored 10 points.
Joel Davis (Watertown) just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
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Kobe Long paced Oneonta (14-12) with 19 points, including three 3-pointers. Elijah Castillo scored 16 points and Cam LaClair led the guests with 14 rebounds and three assists.
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Cortland used an early 13-2 run to extend a 10-9 lead to 23-11 at the midway point of the first half. Coston and Arcuri started the run with 3-pointers, Wilson hit a 3-pointer later in the stretch and
Pierre Hajjar (Brussels, Belgium/Victory Rock Prep) capped the run with a driving layup.
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Oneonta trailed by 15 points with 7:38 left in the half but fought back and got to within seven on Long's 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer. Oneonta was still within eight at 48-40 with 8:35 remaining after a LaClair layup, but Wilson made a layup, Coston hit a 3-pointer and, following a Castillo bucket, Davis hit a layup and
Gaige Armbrewster (Oakfield/Oakfield-Alabama) nailed a 3-pointer to put the Red Dragons up 58-42 with 6:04 remaining. The margin was at least 12 the rest of the way and grew to as much as 21 in the final two minutes.
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Cortland shot 48 percent from the floor in the first half and finished the game at 44 percent. The Red Dragons connected on 17-of-23 free throws, including 13-of-19 in the second half. Oneonta ended at 34 percent from the floor. Cortland committed only seven turnovers and Oneonta finished with 10 giveaways.