PLATTSBURGH — Buffalo State connected on three 3-pointers in the first minute of the second half and with that the rout was on.
The Bengals outscored Plattsburgh State 56-42 in the second half to capture a 92-74 victory in men's SUNY Athletic Conference basketball Friday at Memorial Hall.
"They scored six points while I was trying to call a time out," Cardinals coach Tom Curle said. "We lost sight of what our individual job was and panicked a bit."
Buffalo State entered the game with the third best SUNYAC record and riding a four-game winning streak. The Bengals had defeated Plattsburgh during that run, 110-68.
However, the Cardinals played a near-perfect first half and stayed with Buffalo State, trailing 36-32 at the half.
"We have shown a propensity to compete, but we also get fatigued," Curle said. "When we get fatigued we make some egregious mental errors.
"There is a difference between conditioned and fatigued. Conditioned is physical where fatigued is mental. And they wore us down and we just couldn't get through it."
The second half started with Nico McLean draining a 3-pointer. Plattsburgh turned the ball over trying to get it inbounds on two consecutive possessions and Jake Simmons drilled a pair of 3-pointers to give the Bengals a 45-32 lead.
And the lead just ballooned from there.
"We ran our offense in the first half," Curle said. "Once they got running they had open threes on the break and they made them.
"We just shot the ball too quickly."
The Cardinals made it a point to stop Simmons on offense. In their last game Simmons connected on nine 3-pointers.
In the first half he was only able to get open for two threes, but that changed in the second.
"To start the second half we stopped and pointed at him," Curle said. "We were supposed to follow him all the way through. We definitely did not follow the schemes that we went over in practice."
Simmons finished with a game-high 25 points, including seven 3-pointers. Roderick Epps chipped in with 11 points while Ahmed Nagaya and Justin Mitchell each finished with 10.
Shavar Fields again had a strong night from the floor with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting. John Perez and Junghoon Roh each tallied 11 points while Shamoy McIntosh finished with 10.
Reggie Williams had a strong first half for the Cardinals.
"We have to really stay together," Curle said. "We've lost six of our last seven games and four of those six were to teams that have been nationally ranked this season.
"Hopefully it doesn't wear on the kids to where they don't think we can win in the conference."
Today, Plattsburgh has its final home game of the season with a 4 p.m. contest against Fredonia. The final regular season home game for Josh Bruno and Ketema Brooks.
"At 5-8 (in the conference) I still think we can have a .500 record or better," Curle said. "After a game like that we can't lose sight of that."
NOTE: Brooks finished with one assist in Friday's game against the Bengals. He needs six assists to take over as the schools all-time assist leader.
Buffalo State 92
Plattsburgh State 74
Buffalo State (92)
N. Simmons 2-3-7, McLean 3-0-8, Nagaya 4-2-10, Mitchell 4-2-10, J. Simmons 9-0-25, Hamer 1-6-8, Epps 4-0-11, Gross 0-0-0, Alexander 2-1-5, Stokes 0-3-3, Castren 0-0-0, Singleton 0-1-1, Miles 0-0-0, Purcelle 0-0-0, Majak 2-0-4. Totals: 31-18-92.
Plattsburgh State (74)
Brooks 0-0-0, Perez 4-3-11, Williams 3-2-8, Fields 8-1-17, Roh 4-0-11, Mitchell 2-0-5, McIntosh 3-2-10, Tibbs 2-0-4, Moody 0-1-1, Baker 0-0-0, Hodgson 1-2-4, Bruno 1-0-3. Totals: 28-11-74.
3-point goals: Buffalo State (12) McLean 2, J. Simmons 7, Epps 3. Plattsburgh State (7) Roh 3, Mitchell, McIntosh 2, Bruno.
Halftime: Buffalo State, 36-32.
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