PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - It came down to the wire, but the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team pulled off a 72-70 win over visiting Husson to earn the 2009 Cardinal Classic title. Earlier, Norwich edged out RIT in overtime for third place, 81-80.
Plattsburgh now holds a 3-1 record for the year, Husson falls to 1-2, Norwich is at 2-1 and RIT remains win-less at 0-2.
During the first game of the day, RIT entered halftime with a slight 39-34 lead. However, Norwich countered in the second, outscoring the Tigers 41-36 and tying the game at 75.
In overtime, Jaren Jeffcoat scored first for the Cadets with a jumper about a minute into play, but Brendan Harder countered quickly with a layup for the Tigers. With about two and half minutes left in the period, Joshua Cabrera sank another layup for the Cadets. Darryl Anderson cut Norwich's lead to one when he made good on a free-throw for RIT with 1:23 left on the clock. However, Quincy Jones secured a three-point lead for the Cadets with 18 seconds left on the clock when recorded a jumper following a Norwich timeout. A layup by RIT's Harder right before the buzzer cut that lead down to one, but was not enough to push the Tigers past the Cadets.
Scott Young scored a tournament-high 37 points for RIT and pulled down nine rebounds. Anthony Terry (17 points) and Harder (13) followed him in scoring for the Tigers. Harder also led the team with two blocks. Terry nabbed three steals and Marcus Lowe dished out six assists.
For Norwich, Jeffcoat sank 21 points all together, while Israel Guardado (18 points, 15 rebounds) and Antonio Davis (16 points, 12 rebounds) each posted a double-double during the contest. Darrel Marshall handed out a team-high three assists.
The championship game saw solid scoring efforts from both teams, with Plattsburgh and Husson each seeing three players record double-digits in the points column. The Cardinals led 39-33 at the half and they held on tight until the bitter end, refusing relinquishing the lead during the second despite Husson's best efforts.
Plattsburgh pulled ahead by 10 points with just over six minutes left to go in the game, but the Eagles cut that mark to one by the three-minute mark. Husson actually tied the game at 68 apiece with just under a minute left to play, but Chris Ruiz quickly sank a layup to give the Cardinals back the lead.
A made layup by the Eagles' Joshua Jones with nine seconds left on the clock gave Husson some hope, especially following a missed free-throw by Plattsburgh's Carl Munnerlyn a second later, but a missed jumper by Brock Bradford at the buzzer sealed the visiting team's fate.
Errol Daniyan and Chris Ruiz each recorded 20 points, while Daniyan tied Danny Tangney for a team-high seven rebounds. Steve Thomas contributed 14 points to the mix and also tied Tangney with four assists. The Cardinals shot a solid 70% (14-for-20) from the free-throw line.
Jones posted a double-double for the Eagles, consisting of 20 points and 16 rebounds. Matt McKenzie sank 19 points and Bradford had 18 as well. Bradford also led the team with three assists and Jones made a game-high three blocks.
Plattsburgh's Daniyan was named tournament MVP, while teammate Steve Thomas also received all-tournament accolades. The rest of the all-tournament team consisted of Husson's Jones and Bradford, Guardado for Norwich and RIT's Young.
Next up, Plattsburgh hits the road and takes on Clarkson in Potsdam on Sunday, November 29, at 6 p.m.
