OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Lakers took the victory this afternoon over the Cortland Red Dragons by a score of 68-66. Freshman Jeremiah Sparks had 31 points, beating his career-high in field-goals made with 11 in the contest. A last-second desperation 3-pointer by the Red Dragons missed the mark to keep the Lakers in contention for the top spot in the SUNYAC standings.
 
THE BASICS

• Final Score:  Oswego 68, Cortland 66
• Location:  Max Ziel Gymnasium – Oswego, NY
• Records:  Oswego 11-2 (SUNYAC 5-1) | Cortland 9-4 (SUNYAC 3-3)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Lakers came out strong going on a 5-0 run with the first points coming from Brandan Gartland with a 3-pointer and Sparks with a jumper.  
• Cortland battled back to take a quick lead at 10-9 with 13:16 left in the half.
• Over the next seven minutes, Oswego put together a 20-7 run to push out to a 14-point lead behind seven from Sparks and six from Gartland.
• A 10-3 run by the Red Dragons cut the lead back to 33-26 heading into the break.
• The Lakers went on a 9-2 run from 18:52-16:33 of the second half to extend the lead back up to 12 points at 42-30. 
• Cortland went on a 20-6 run right after to find themselves in the lead with 9:57 left in the second half and a score of 50-48.    
• Sparks started flying with the freshman nailing three straight 3-pointers over the next two minutes to put Oswego back up by seven.
• Cortland would cut the lead back to a point (61-60) with 4:24 left, but the defense held the visitors in check over the next four minutes to give Oswego a 66-60 lead with 38 seconds left.
• With 28 seconds remaining, Cortland made it interesting with an 'and-one,' slashing the lead to three points (66-63).  
• Sparks was fouled with seven seconds left and made both free throws to extend the lead to five.
• With three seconds left, Brendan Fitzpatrick of Cortland hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two (68-66).
• The Red Dragons then fouled and a missed one-and-one free throw led to the hail-mary toss that was off to the left to secure the win for the Lakers.
• Sparks finished the game going 55% from the field including five 3-pointers to lift the Lakers past Cortland.  
• Joe Sullivan finished with 13 rebounds and grabbed eight offensive rebounds after the team honored him prior to the contest for scoring his 1,000th career collegiate point in the previous game against New Paltz. 

 WHAT'S NEXT

The Lakers will tip-off Tuesday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m. to take on the Red Dragons of Oneonta at the Max Ziel Gymnasium.