Brockport, Potsdam Advance To SUNYAC Title Game

UTICA, N.Y. - Top-seeded Brockport and third-seeded Potsdam recorded semifinal victories today at the Utica War Memorial to advance to tomorrow's SUNYAC Championship. The Bears defeated seventh-seeded Plattsburgh 62-48 while the Golden Eagles rolled past Cortland 71-42 to set up the finale starting at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Potsdam raced out to a 7-0 lead on Plattsburgh with just 1:30 gone in the first half and never looked back. The Bears led 21-8 with nine minutes to play in the opening stanza and went into the locker room up 37-22. In the second half, the Bears led by as many as 21 at one point and the Cardinals were unable to get back into the game thanks to a cold shooting day. The Cards shot just 28% from the field and were 1-of-19 from three-point range. Potsdam's Edane Barton (Spring Valley/Colgate University) led all scorers with 16. Eldon Harris (Albany/Albany) added 13. Cameron Arterberry (Rochester/Monroe CC) was the high scorer for Plattsburgh with 10.

Brockport outscored Cortland 17-7 over the final 10 minutes of the first half to open up a tight game in the second semifinal. The Golden Eagle lead swelled to 21 with five minutes gone in the second half and it looked as if they would cruise to the championship game. The Red Dragons chipped away at the lead and cut the score to 49-40 with 7:41 left but could get no closer. Brandon Mills (Rochester/Spencerport) had 16 points for Brockport and Charlie Croff (Lockport/Lockport) and David Andrews (Huntington Station/Walt Whitman) both added 14 apiece. Jon Rother (Sodus Point/Sodus) had 10 for Cortland.

Brockport and Potsdam met only once this season with the Golden Eagles prevailing 90-85 on Feb.13. The Bears have not advanced to the SUNYAC Championship since 1990 while the Golden Eagles were crowned the champions in both the 2001 and 2002 seasons.