The Oswego State Men's basketball team lost a close matchup with the Cortland Red Dragons, 56-47 Friday night in a game that went back and forth throughout.
Prior to the game, however, the Oswego honored their starting power forward Rashawn Powell for his last regular season game as a Laker on Senior Day.
"That was great," said Powell, the Laker's only senior. "Seeing what I've been through since coming here as a freshman has really been something, but I'm trying to get another SUNYAC title so I'm looking forward to the playoffs."
The Lakers and the Cortland started off fairly even through the first 10 minutes, but an early trap defense would make it difficult for Oswego to get good looks at the basket, allowing Cortland to gain an early advantage.
Oswego would pull even late in the first half thanks in most part to their honored senior Powell, making every shot he took in the first half (5-5), including powering through a double team for a lay-up to give the Lakers a two point lead going into the locker room at half time.
In the second half, the game became much more of a half court battle, and Oswego's shooting plummeted from 50 percent in the first half to 25 percent in the second. This let Cortland make a 19-5 run and sneak ahead with just over four minutes left to play, they would retain the lead for the rest of the contest.
"They just made more plays than we did." Coach Jason Leone said. "When you're in a game like this, it comes down to who can make those few extra plays, and we played hard, but we weren't able to do that."
With this win, Cortland remains in the sixth and final seed in the SUNYAC tournament, but with Oneonta holding a tie breaker and having another game Saturday, Cortland has no control over their own destiny.
Losing this game means there will most likely be no first round bye for the Lakers as they could fall to the three seed if Geneseo can defeat Plattsburgh Saturday night. In the scenario where the Lakers fall to the third seed, they will play whoever holds the sixth seed Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Max Ziel Gymnasium.
