By JOHN CORYER
Press-Republican
---- — PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh State men’s basketball team’s first goal this season was to clinch a spot in the SUNY Athletic Conference Tournament.
Mission accomplished.
The Cardinals’ next goal was to secure a home game at Memorial Hall in the opening round of the tournament.
Mission also accomplished.
Now what’s next for Plattsburgh?
“We want to finish at least second in the standings and get a bye in the first round of the playoffs,” said Plattsburgh coach Tom Curle.
The Cardinals have three regular season conference games remaining — all at home. First up is rival Potsdam at 8 p.m. tonight, followed by first-place Cortland and Oswego over the weekend.
Plattsburgh (15-7, 11-4) currently trails Cortland, which is 13-2 in the conference, by two games.
The Cardinals, however, have a 2-game lead in the loss column over both Geneseo (10-6) and Oswego (9-6) in the race for second.
The format has been changed this year to only six teams making the conference playoffs and, ironically, Plattsburgh may wind up without a home playoff game.
“The two top teams in the standings get byes in the opening round, while the third seed hosts the sixth seed and the fourth seed hosts the fifth seed,” said Curle. “If we finish in second, we would be the only one of the top four teams not to host a playoff game. That’s why I don’t like the new format.
“The semifinals and finals are played at the site of the first seed. But, I don’t mind getting the bye in the first round.”
The Cardinals need to win two of their three remaining games to clinch second.
In order to finish in first, Plattsburgh would need to win out, including a victory over Cortland this weekend, and get some help from either New Paltz or Potsdam.
The Bears (9-13, 5-10) are coming off a weekend at home when they recorded a 75-61 win over Geneseo last Friday and dropped a 73-60 decision to The College of Brockport the following day.
Potsdam is being led in scoring by Curtis Pierce (18.0), Mark Lake Jr. (16.5) and Rob Duquette (10.1).
Duquette, a former standout at Peru Central, was out of the line-up with an injury on January 22 when the Cardinals pulled away for an 85-63 win at Potsdam.
“Having Duquette back will definitely help them on the boards,” said Curle. “They have a lot of talent on their team and having Duquette back will help Pierce, who is their best player. He will become even more of an inside-outside threat.”
The Cardinals enjoyed a productive weekend at Memorial Hall with a hard-fought 78-68 win over Brockport and an 84-62 decision over Geneseo.
“I think we’re playing our best basketball of the season right now, but we want to continue and get better,” said Curle. “Our guys know what’s at stake in our last three (regular season) games.
Shamoy McIntosh (12.2) and John Perez (11.5) are the lone Cardinals averaging in double figures. Point guard Chris Manning leads all of Division III with 3.77 steals a game.
“We can be an explosive team,” said Curle. “That was evident early on in the second half of the Geneseo game.”
Plattsburgh also continues to get strong play from its bench in what has been a turnaround season for the Cardinals. In fact, none of the starters scored in double figures in the win over Geneseo.
While Curle’s tenure at Plattsburgh has been an overall successful one, a young and rebuilding Cardinal team went 8-18 overall and 6-12 in conference play a season ago.
“Players like Shamoy McIntosh, Jordan Moody, Ezra Hodgson and Mike Mitchell were freshmen last year and their growth as sophomores has been exceptional,” said Curle. “And our juniors are supplying great leadership.
“But we learn new lessons with every game.”
Plattsburgh has no seniors on the roster, which bodes well for the future.
—
SUNYAC
Men’s Ice Hockey Standings
School Conf Pts Overall
Oswego 13-1 26 20-3
Plattsburgh 11-2-1 23 16-6-1
Geneseo 10-4-1 21 15-8-1
Buffalo State 6-8-1 13 11-11-2
Fredonia 5-8-2 12 7-14-3
Potsdam 5-9 10 8-14-1
Brockport 4-10-1 9 5-16-2
Morrisville 4-10 8 4-17-2
Cortland 3-9-2 8 7-13-3
Friday’s schedule
Cortland at Plattsburgh
Oswego at Potsdam
Morrisville at Brockport
Fredonia at Buffalo State
Franklin Pierce at Brockport
Saturday’s schedule
Oswego at Plattsburgh
Cortland at Potsdam
Morrisville at Geneseo
End of regular season
Men’s Basketball Standings
School Conf Overall
Cortland 13-2 19-3
Plattsburgh 11-4 15-7
Geneseo 10-6 14-9
Oswego 9-6 16-6
Brockport 9-7 14-9
New Paltz 8-8 10-13
Buffalo State 7-8 12-9
Potsdam 5-10 9-13
Oneonta 3-13 4-19
Fredonia 2-13 6-15
Tonight’s schedule
Potsdam at Plattsburgh
Buffalo State at Fredonia
New Paltz at Cortland
Oneonta at Oswego
Friday’s schedule
Cortland at Plattsburgh
Geneseo at Fredonia
Oneonta at New Paltz
Brockport at Buffalo State
Oswego at Potsdam
Saturday’s schedule
Oswego at Plattsburgh
Cortland at Potsdam
Fredonia at Brockport
Buffalo State at Geneseo
End of regular season
Women’s Basketball Standings
School Conf Overall
New Paltz 15-1 21-2
Geneseo 12-4 16-6
Oswego 9-6 15-7
Oneonta 9-7 12-11
Cortland 8-7 10-11
Buffalo State 7-8 11-11
Plattsburgh 7-8 11-11
Fredonia 6-9 11-10
Brockport 4-12 7-16
Potsdam 0-15 1-21
Tonight’s schedule
Potsdam at Plattsburgh
Oneonta at Oswego
Buffalo State at Fredonia
New Paltz at Cortland
Keuka at Geneseo
Friday’s schedule
Cortland at Plattsburgh
Oneonta at New Paltz
Brockport at Buffalo State
Geneseo at Fredonia
Oswego at Potsdam
Saturday’s schedule
Oswego at Plattsburgh
Cortland at Potsdam
Buffalo State at Geneseo
Fredonia at Brockport
