OSWEGO, N.Y. - Aaron Coston (Kerhonkson/Rondout Valley) scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Cortland men's basketball team clinched the top spot in the SUNYAC regular-season standings with a 65-58 win at second-place Oswego.
 
Cortland (19-4, 15-1 SUNYAC) secured its first conference top seed since 2013 and will host the SUNYAC tournament semifinals and finals Feb. 27-28. Cortland can finish no worse than tied with either Oswego or Oneonta, which are each 13-3 with two league games remaining, and Cortland would win any league tiebreaker versus Oswego, Oneonta, or the two combined.
 
Coston, one day after scoring a career-best 29 points in a win at Canton, hit 13-of-15 shots from the field and all five of his free throws in his 32-point performance. His 14 rebounds are a season high and one short of matching his career high, also coming at Oswego in Jan. 2024.
 
Joel Davis registered eight points, 10 rebounds and three assists, Gaige Armbrewster (Oakfield/Oakfield-Alabama) tallied eight points and Nolan Raymond (Queens Village/Vermont Academy) scored seven points. Kendall Arcuri (Staten Island/St. Joseph by-the-Sea) tied his career high with 14 rebounds and added three assists.
 
Oswego (19-4 overall) was led by Freddy Fowler with 23 points. He made 8-of-12 shots, including 5-of-7 3-pointers. Steven Bradley hit three 3-pointers and closed with 12 points. Arthur Foster had six assists, and Deacon Judd and Gary McLane each secured five rebounds.
 
Cortland only trailed once at 2-0 in the game's first minute. The Red Dragons led 16-5 with 10:49 left in the opening half. Oswego closed to within 18-15 three minutes later and was within five at 23-18 at the 6:20 mark. Cortland, however, closed the half on a 9-4 run and led 32-22 at the break.
 
Oswego was down 48-43 with 9:43 left before Cortland fashioned a 13-3 run over the next five minutes to go up 61-46. Coston scored nine points in that run, capped by a 3-pointer, and Armbrewster scored four points.
 
Oswego fought back to within seven on two occasions in the last two minutes. The Lakers were down 61-54 on a Judd layup with 1:19 left, but Raymond and Coston each hit two free throws to make it 65-54 with 40 seconds remaining. Oswego trailed 65-58 with 16 seconds left. Cortland missed two free throws with 13 ticks remaining, but Armbrewster secured the offensive rebound and the Red Dragons ran out the clock.
 
Coston scored 17 of his 32 points in the second half. He was 6-for-6 from the floor, with a 3-pointer, and 4-for-4 from the foul line over the final 20 minutes.