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February 6, 2010

Cardinals win at buzzer

By RYAN HAYNER

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.

PLATTSBURGH — Missing their head coach, plagued with foul trouble and abused in the post, the Cardinals still pulled off a remarkable finish.

Steve Thomas's putback off a missed 3-pointer as time expired lifted Plattsburgh State to an 88-86 SUNY Athletic Conference win against Buffalo State Saturday in Memorial Hall.

Thomas was mobbed by teammates at midcourt in a pile of red and white after his buzzer-beater handed the Cardinals an emotional eighth conference win.

With Plattsburgh State coach Tom Curle attending a family funeral, Associate coach Cameron Conover won his coaching debut.

Conover, struggling to put into words what just happened, said it felt like the time Anthony Williams hit a deep buzzer-beating shot against Rochester in the 2006-07 NCAA tournament opening round.

"It was so surreal," said Conover, grinning ear-to-ear. "I think it's a testament to what Tom's done for this program. It could have gone either way and these guys really stuck together and said we're going to win this game."

Thomas finished with 20 points and seven rebounds. Chris Ruiz scored 17 points and Carl Munnerlyn added 14 for Plattsburgh State, which got its first weekend home sweep since the Cardinal Classic in November.

The Cardinals (13-7, 8-5 SUNYAC) capped a revenge-themed weekend after beating Fredonia Friday. Fredonia and Buffalo State handed the Cardinals back-to-back losses early in January.

More importantly, Plattsburgh State is just one SUNYAC win away from at least a .500 conference record that would all but guarantee a playoff tournament seed.

"That felt real good, especially with coach's absence and with coach Cam being in his first game as a head coach," Ruiz said. "This game meant a lot for everyone, it was a real meaningful game."

Buffalo State forwards Antonio Samedi and Glenroy Carr posted big games against a foul-happy Cardinal team that struggled in the low post.

Using a variety of moves, Samedi posted game-highs of 27 points, 12 boards and five blocks while Carr dropped in 21. The pair combined to shoot 18-for-26 from the floor.

Plattsburgh State was mostly helpess against the Bengals' interior game before Conover switched to a 2-3 zone late in the second half.

"I think I should have gone to a zone even sooner," said Conover, in his fifth season on the Plattsburgh State bench. "I was stubborn, sticking with man-to-man."

Farris Thomas converted a perfect pass from Ketema Brooks for a layup to give Plattsburgh State its first lead of the game, 80-78, with 4:25 remaining.

The Cardinals trailed by as many as 10 in the second half.

Both teams traded leads until Ruiz drove to the basket and drew a foul while banking in a left-handed layup. The free throw made it 86-84 with 26.3 seconds on the clock.

Carr followed by drawing a shooting foul in the post before cooly connecting on both his shots to knot the score.

Ruiz took the in-bounds pass and lifted a running 3-pointer several feet behind the arc. The shot bounced off the backboard and into the hands of Steve Thomas, whose off-balanced floater beat out the clock.

"We needed a bucket, so I just crashed low to the glass," Thomas said. "My objective was to get the rebound and score, I didn't really care who was under there."

With Errol Daniyan relegated to the bench for a majority of the first half, Buffalo State capitilized its size advantage. The Bengals (8-11, 6-7) shot 62.1 percent from the field in the first half en route to a 45-43 lead at intermission.

Samedi fouled out on the late 3-point play by Ruiz. Jake Simmons, the SUNYAC's second leading scorer, added 14 before he picked up his fifth foul with 2:19 left. The foul, a head-to-head collision with Steve Thomas, sent him crashing to the ground where he remained for several minutes before being helped off the court.

R.J. Ponesse matched a season-high 10 points filling in for Daniyan, but he too had foul trouble.

Plattsburgh State also matched a season-low eight turnovers — Buffalo State opponents average 17 per game — while dishing out 12 assists.

Plattsburgh State 88,

Buffalo State 86

Buffalo State (86)

Jackson 3-1-7, Carr 7-7-21, Samedi 11-5-27, N. Simmons 2-4-8, J. Simmons 6-0-14, Omote 0-1-1, Gross 0-0-0, Nagaya 0-0-0, Mitchell 3-0-6, Runge 1-0-2. Totals: 33-18-86.

Plattsburgh State (88)

F. Thomas 4-1-9, Daniyan 3-0-6, Munnerlyn 5-3-14, Ruiz 7-1-17, S. Thomas 8-4-20, Brooks 1-3-5, Tangney 3-0-7, Ponesse 4-2-10. Totals: 35-14-88.

3-point goals: Buffalo State (2) J. Simmons. Plattsburgh State (4) Ruiz 2, Munnerlyn, Brooks.

Halftime: Buffalo State 45-43.

Attendance: 678.

E-mail Ryan Hayner at: rhayner@pressrepublican.com

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