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Plattsburgh built a 14-point lead in the first 4:24 that the Oswego State men's basketball team was never able to recover from in an 81-66 loss at Max Ziel Gymnasium on Friday night. The Cardinals were powered early on by Chris Ruiz, who scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. The senior guard was a perfect 5-for-5 from the three-point line and 8-for-10 from the floor in the win, as Plattsburgh improved to 9-5 in SUNYAC play and 14-7 overall. Senior Stanley Francois led the Lakers, who dropped to 10-11 overall and 4-10 in the SUNYAC, with 13 points.

Free throws played a key part in the game, as the Cardinals converted 24-of-42 attempts from the charity stripe compared to Oswego State hitting 11-of-17.  The Plattsburgh defense stepped up in a big way throughout the game, limiting Chad Burridge to three points, which was nearly 16 points below his season average, on 1-of-9 shooting. 

Jose Uribe joined Francois, who has now scored at least 10 points in five of the last seven games, in double-figures with 12 points for Oswego State followed by Ryan Sheridan with 10.  In addition to Ruiz' 25 points, the Cardinals had two other players reach double-digits as Carl Munnerlyn and Steve Thomas finished with 17 and 12 points, respectively. 

The loss puts the Lakers at 4-10 in conference play, as Oswego State remains on the outside looking in to the SUNYAC Tournament, which is less than two weeks away.  The Lakers will play their final home game of the regular season on Saturday against Potsdam at 4 p.m. before wrapping up the regular season with three conference road games against New Paltz, Fredonia, and Buffalo State.