BRACKET

GENESEO, N.Y. – The Oswego State men's basketball team defeated Geneseo on the road Saturday afternoon to grab sole possession of the 2018-19 SUNYAC regular season championship. Oswego will host the SUNYAC Championship's semifinal round and title game next Friday and Saturday as the league's top seed.
 
THE BASICS

• Final Score: Oswego 69, Geneseo 63
• Location: Schrader Gymnasium -- Geneseo N.Y.
• Records: Oswego  20-5 (15-3) | Geneseo 8-17 (5-13)

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Oswego found themselves trailing by double-digits, 15-5, just seven minutes into the contest. A quick 7-0 run inserted the Lakers back in the game, with a 3-pointer coming from Allen Durutovic to cap off the spurt.
• Geneseo led the Lakers by just three, 29-26, at halftime.
• Former Geneseo Knight, Quinn Carey, gave the Lakers their first lead since the opening minutes with a layup just 2:40 into the second half.
• With the game knotted at 33-33, the next 15 minutes of play was a nip-and-tuck affair. The span featured 14 lead changes and six ties with the largest lead for either team reaching no more than three points.
• Oswego trailed Geneseo 57-56 as the game entered the final two minutes, but Carey split a pair of free throws to square the game.
• Durutovic blocked a shot attempt taken by Geneseo's Zack Panebianco, ensuing to a Laker possession where Liam Sanborn put home a layup to give Oswego a 59-57 lead with 1:20 showing on the clock.
• After another crucial defensive stop by Oswego, Brandan Gartland knocked down his first 3-pointer of the game to push the Lakers to a 62-57 advantage with 32 seconds remaining.
• Geneseo got within a possession again, 62-59, but Tyler Pierre – the nation's leader in field-goal percentage – cashed in a layup as he was fouled. He would make his free throw to push the Laker lead to 65-59 with 20 seconds left.
• Gartland and Pierre made their free throws down the stretch to erase any hope for Geneseo, sealing the 69-63 victory.
• Pierre went 8-for-11 from the field, as he completed his eighth double-double of the season, finishing with 21 points and 11 rebounds while adding four assists.
• Sanborn also stuffed the box score with his 15 points, five assists and four rebounds, finishing the regular season leading the conference with 151 assists.
• Off the bench, Durutovic grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double as he tallied 10 points.
• Gartland scored 11 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
• Ranked 12^th in Div. III in rebound margin, the Lakers corralled 36 boards, 11 of them coming offensively, seven more than the host Knights.
• The regular season title is the eighth in program history and fourth since the head coach Jason Leone took the reins for the 2011-12 campaign.
• Oswego has appeared in the SUNYAC Championship in each of Leone's eight seasons and in every season since 1997-98. Leone's Lakers have now reached the semifinal round in all eight his seasons.

WHAT'S NEXT

The No. 1 seeded Lakers await the winner of Tuesday night's quarterfinal matchup between No. 4 Cortland and No. 5 Oneonta in Friday's second semifinal, slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. Second-seeded Plattsburgh will face the winner of No. 3 Brockport and No. 6 Potsdam at 5:30 p.m. on Friday in Max Ziel Gymnasium.