Tough weekend ahead for Cardinals

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Josh Bruno (right) and the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team hosts Buffalo State and Fredonia this weekend in SUNYAC action. P-R Photo / Rob Fountain

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February 3, 2012

KEITH KANE Press-Republican The Press Republican Fri Feb 03, 2012, 01:18 PM EST

PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team broke its five-game losing streak on Saturday with a victory over Oneonta.

Despite playing a sound game offensively, the Cardinals had a bit of a defensive letdown and allowed the Red Dragons back into the game, making the 67-64 final score much closer than it should have been.

This weekend Plattsburgh (7-12, 5-7 SUNYAC) will complete its regular-season home schedule with two SUNY Athletic Conference games.

Tonight the Cardinals host Buffalo State, which has not only been outscoring its opponents by 32.5 points during a four-game winning streak, but also handed Plattsburgh its worse loss of the season, 110-68, Jan. 21.

"Buffalo State is very good and they're on a roll," Cardinals coach Tom Curle said. "They are going to try to get in the 90s and force you to play fast on offense. They make you shoot quickly.

"They press and get after you on defense. They play a lot of zone and get a lot of steals and deflections out of it. They are going to make you attack and just wear you down."

In the first go around, the Bengals held the Cardinals to just 39.3-percent shooting from the field while shooting 58.3 percent themselves, including 60 percent from long range.

Jake Simmons had a career night against Plattsburgh, connecting on 13-of-24 shots, including nine 3-pointers, to finish with a game-high 37 points. Ahmed Nagaya chipped in with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Nico McLean added 11 points.

Buffalo State eked out a 42-39 rebounding edge.

"They have a great scorer in Simmons," Curle said. "He connected on nine threes against us last game, but he can also get to the rim.

"They can send wave after wave of athletes at you, and they just keep coming. We need to dictate the tempo and run our offense well against them."

The Cardinals played Fredonia a lot better than Buffalo State. In fact, they held a 32-27 halftime lead against the Blue Devils on Jan. 20 before falling, 70-63.

Shavar Fields led the way with 17 points for Plattsburgh while John Perez added 15 points. Julius Bryant and Amir Billups each scored 17 points to lead the Blue Devils.

"Fredonia is going to try and keep the game in the 60s. They are averaging 63 a game," Curle said. "They definitely like to slow it down.

"We have to play to our identity. We can run, but we can't scramble. We will have to play better defense and move the ball much better on offense."

Plattsburgh is currently eighth in the SUNY Athletic Conference standings and is looking up at both Buffalo State and Fredonia. But both teams are in reach if the Cardinals can pick up a pair of victories this weekend. The top eight teams make the conference playoffs.

"Fredonia has some real veteran players," Curle said. "Seniors always want to prolong the season because they start seeing that light at the end of the tunnel for the end of their career. They can get focused, and teams like that become dangerous.

"So far in our five (SUNYAC) wins, three of the five are against the bottom two teams, and the fourth team is tied with us for eighth. At some point we have to beat the better teams in our conference. This is a big weekend for us to show that we're getting better and our improvement is leading to results."