Nail Biter in Max Ziel Gymnasium Keeps Oswego on the Edge of Their Seats.
The crowd erupted as the Oswego Lakers took the court for their warm ups, opposite of Buffalo State. It was more of the same when they pulled off the nail biting 84–83 win on their last possession in overtime.
This is not the first time a game between the Oswego State Lakers and Buffalo State has been close. Over the course of the season they have matched up 2 other times. Both were won by Oswego by an average deficit of one point. The story of the game wasn’t like any of the others. The Laker’s star player Brian Sortino struggled mightily in the first half. Although he had 14 points, the point guard was 3 of 10 shooting from the floor. The slack was picked up by his teammates, Ian Schupp who had 12, and Jamir Ferebee, who also scored 14 points in the game.
This set the foundation for a tremendous second half for the senior All-American. Sortino came out firing. Having played every single minute in the first half, Sortino showed no sign of exhaustion. In a seesaw like game, where baskets were being exchanged left and right, Brian Sortino added to the madness. He hit 4 3-point shots in a row to give the Lakers their biggest lead of the game.
After grinding through the tremendous run, Buffalo State battled back to gain the lead with 7 minutes left. The score was 62–60 and momentum had seemed to shift towards Buffalo as Oswego was being dominated in the paint. Over half of the points Buffalo State scored, (42) were scored in the paint and the Lakers had no way of stopping it. Lovell Smith of Buffalo State would not be denied. Weaving through the zone defense of the Lakers, he found himself getting to the basket with ease. Starting big men for Oswego, Mykelle Greco and Keith Tyson struggled to lock down the paint, as Buffalo State took advantage. Greco found himself in foul trouble and on the bench, while Tyson couldn’t find his footing on defense or offense, shooting only 15% from the field. “Scoring’s not the only thing I can do, it’s a team sport so I try to do whatever I can to help out. These guys had a great night, and I didn’t do so well shooting, but I’ll bounce back tomorrow” said Tyson.
The Lakers took an approach they had become all too familiar with. Get the ball in the hands of their best player. By the end of regulation, Sortino had 43 points and ended with 48 points. A new career high and only two points short of the school record. It was only right that he found himself with the ball on the last possession of overtime with the game tied. Everyone knew who was getting the ball, and Buffalo State wasn’t any different. Triple teaming the guard, Sortino found his forward Ferebee underneath the basket wide open. “If they were going to play me man to man, I was just going to try to go to the rim. They were triple teaming me and I saw Jamir jumping up and down. I trust him with the ball and I knew he would make a good play” said Sortino after the game.
Without hesitation, he soared the ball over the heads of his defenders to his teammate. Once again, the crowd erupted when the basket fell, giving the Lakers the lead with only a few seconds on the clock. After a defensive stop the Lakers found themselves victorious once again by only a point. “We were tough-minded, I thought our guys played well. It’s a shame that guys have to take off their jerseys for the last time, I’m just glad it wasn’t us” said coach Leone of the Lakers.
Oswego will face Oneonta at Max Ziel stadium Saturday, February 24th in the Championship of the SUNYAC tournament.
