Sortino’s Big Night Sends The Lakers To SUNYAC Finals
Brian Sortino carried the Oswego St. Lakers in an overtime thriller by securing a, 84–83, victory over Buffalo St. friday night in the SUNYAC Semifinals.
Sortino scored 48 points with 34 of those points coming in the second half. Jamir Ferebee had 14 points and Ian Schupp added 12 of his own to help the Lakers move on to the SUNYAC finals.
Lovell Smith led Buffalo St. with 29 points and Dom Grayer added 15 points. Despite the loss, Buffalo St. outshot the Lakers in the contest making 54.1% of their shots throughout the game.
“Buffalo St had a great game plan, they came out and played and were unbelievable tonight. It’s a shame someone had to walk away from this one,” said Oswego coach Jason Leone. “I’m really proud of our guys. The stat sheet wasn’t pretty for us, but we’re fortunate and happy we’re moving forward.”
When asked about Sortino’s big night Leone said that Brian was an incredible player and that you could tell he was going to have a big night. “He just had this look in his eyes when he got hot, it was special to watch.”
Sortino not only walked away with the big win but was one point shy of tying the program’s record for points scored in a game. “The record would be nice, but it doesn’t mean anything to me, I’d rather win,” said Sortino.
With :29 seconds left in regulation, Sortino found the ball in his hands again. The Lakers had one shot to take a lead to avoid overtime. Sortino took the ball to the rim as time expired but the shot wasn’t able to fall.
“I saw man to man coverage, so I went to the rim, the shot just didn’t fall,” said Sortino. Sortino was asked why he was the one to take the final shot. “These guys just trust me when the ball’s in my hands.”
In overtime, the Lakers found themselves down by one with 18 seconds left. Sortino found a wide open Ferebee who was able to draw a goaltending foul to give Oswego an 84–83 lead with just :7 seconds left.
Buffalo St. would take a shot at the buzzer but was unsuccessful giving the Lakers their third 1 point victory over the Bengals this season.
“These guys will be fine tomorrow. When you win as many games as these guys have over the last four years they understand the situation and it’s not our first emotional win,” said Leone. “We’re 10–1 when the game is decided by four points, these guys know how to make the plays they have to make. They’ll be fine tomorrow.”
Senior Keith Tyson was only held to 5 points in the game but was able to grab 11 boards to help his team out. “It wasn’t my best day shooting and that’s going to happen sometimes, but I was able to do what I needed to in order to help my team.”
The Lakers also were able to turn 13 Buffalo St. turnovers into 21 points which was one of the contributing factors to the Lakers win.
Oswego was also able to go 21 of 28 from the line which was another major key to their victory.
As for Buffalo St, their season comes to an end finishing 17–9 on the year. Oswego will move on to saturday to play in the finals sitting at 20–6 on the year.
After an emotional and hard fought win, Oswego moves on to play Oneonta in the SUNYAC finals Saturday at 4 p.m. Oneonta defeated Brockport, 85–72, to advance to the SUNYAC finals.
This could feature another great game from Junior Ian Schupp, who will be facing his old team in Oneonta. Schupp played at Oneonta for a season before transferring to Oswego.
