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November 17, 2009

Cardinals face tough road challenge

DID YOU KNOW?


You can look back over the last 70 years at some of the area athletes and personalities who made headlines in area sports. Flashback will revive memories of great local athletes and outstanding team successes.

CHICOPEE, Mass. — The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team opened up the season with an impressive 103-81 win against Lyndon State Sunday.

The Cardinals (1-0) will have a decidedly tougher opponent 7 p.m. tonight when they take on Elms College at the Maguire Center.

The Blazers are fresh off their fifth-straight NCAA tournament appearance and return nine players from the squad that won a school-record 26 games.

Elms will make its season and home debut tonight.

Few teams have been able to come off the Blazers' home court victorious. Last season, the Elms was 15-0 at home. Over the past three years, the team's home record is 36-5.

Plattsburgh State coach Tom Curle said the Blazers run an up-tempo style in an effort to get more field goal attempts. They crash the boards offensively and are in constant attack mode on both sides of the ball. Last season, the Blazers attempted nearly 500 more field goals than their opponents.

He said against a team like that, he expects his squad to turn the ball over some. It is what his players do after that is important.

"Are you going to get back and earn it back or are you going to put your head down? Against a team like that you're going to have turnovers, you have to react in an effort to earn back the ball," Curle said. "We don't want to retreat from the pressure, we want to attack the pressure."

The Blazers returned 2008-09 leading scorer Juan Maldonado, a 5 foot 4 guard who Curle called a polished player. Maldonado averaged 13.8 points last season while playing 25 minutes per game. He shot 52 percent from the floor and 47 percent from behind the arc.

"I just saw a couple of tapes where people are trying to post him up at 5'4" and he's a tough guy," Curle said. "It's easier said than done."

Steve Thomas led the Cardinals with 24 points in the season opener at home on Sunday. Chris Ruiz, a First Team All-SUNYAC selection and the Cardinals' leading scorer last season, tallied 16. Plattsburgh State's 103 points in the opener were more than any game last season.

"In these type of games it will be a game of runs. Don't let their run get you too far down, don't let your run get you too high up," Curle said. "So just make sure that you stay even-keeled and focused through the runs."

Plattsburgh State will be without forward Farris Thomas because he has to give two presentations in classes today. The senior forward scored eight points in ten minutes off the bench Sunday.

"That's what basketball is at our level, academics come first," Curle said.

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