Oswego-Buffalo Game Story
Brian Sortino dropped a whopping 48 points, Jamir Ferebee added 14 and the Oswego State men’s basketball team defeated Buffalo State in a thrilling 84–83 overtime game.
After going 3–10 from the field in the first half, Sortino was on fire the rest of the way, finishing 13–25 and making 17 free throws. He added six assists and nine rebounds to his huge scoring day. Sortino was one point away from tying the SUNYAC record for points in a game, but he was selfless when asked about his performance.
“None of that matters to me. I don’t really care that I didn’t get the record, I would rather have us just win a big game like this,” Sortino said.
Lovell Smith scored 29 points for Buffalo State, while Dom Grayer had 15 and Jordan Chateau added 13 for the Tigers, who finish the season with a 17–10 record.
In the closing seconds of regulation, Buffalo State’s defense collapsed on Sortino, allowing him to complete a pass inside for a wide open layup that would tie the game 76–76. The Lakers would get one last chance to score with 0.3 seconds left on a tip from an in-bound pass, but the shot would not fall. That set the stage for a dramatic overtime finish. Buffalo State had a four-point lead during overtime, but would ultimately lose the game. In the closing seconds, sophomore guard Ryniek Holloway missed a wide open three that would have won the Tigers the game.
Oswego State head coach Jason Leone said he had a feeling the game was going to be a defensive struggle.
“Any time you play a team a third time through typically the games tend to be more defensive, just because the teams know each other so well,” Leone said.
Leone’s words represent how most of the game went down, as neither team would budge or go down by a substantial amount. Neither team shot particularly well in the first half; Buffalo State was 12–25 and Oswego State was a dismal 10–34. What Oswego lacked in shooting they made up for in rebounding, beating Buffalo in that category 23 to 15. Buffalo played well in the paint, scoring 14 points, but this was countered by the 8 takeaways the Lakers had and the 11 points they scored off them.
Neither team had much momentum coming into the second half, although Oswego did have a 35–32 lead. However, despite Sortino’s efforts to burn the place to the ground with his shooting, Buffalo State kept pace with the performance and never let Oswego build much confidence. The game was much less of a defensive struggle in the second half but ultimately would be decided by just one point.
The game concludes an impressive 17-win season for Buffalo State, who came in as the #5 seed and were viewed as underdogs to the #1 seeded Lakers. Looking ahead, Oswego State is now in the SUNYAC championship game. They will play #3 Oneonta on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Max Ziel Gymnasium.