Boxscore and Play-by-Play

CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland’s Jesse Winter scored a game-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field as the Red Dragons defeated the Plattsburgh men’s basketball team, 75-66, in its State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) opener.
 
Shavar Fields led Plattsburgh with 17 points off the bench. John Perez scored 12 points, Gary Tibbs led the team with seven rebounds and Ketema Brooks dished out four assists.
 
Brian Manning came off the bench to score 16 points and grab eight rebounds for Cortland. He made 7-of-9 shots, including both of his three-point attempts.
 
Cortland (4-1, 1-0 SUNYAC) shot 49 percent from the field (27-of-55) and made 16-of-19 free throws. Plattsburgh (2-3, 0-1 SUNYAC) struggled from the foul line, hitting only 16-of-30 attempts (53 percent), and the Cardinals made 39 percent of their field goals.
 
Neither team led by more than five points in the first half. Cortland led 32-28 at the break and went up 58-48 on two John Connolly free throws with 8:02 left. Plattsburgh responded with six straight points, including a Mike Mitchell three-pointer, and was within 58-54 with 6:27 remaining.
 
Winter nailed a three-pointer with 5:58 left and a layup with 5:24 remaining to give Cortland a nine-point lead. Fields sank two free throws with 4:32 on the clock, but Winter made two foul shots at the 3:54 mark and hit a jumper with 2:46 left to give the Red Dragons an 11-point lead. Cortland led by at least eight points the rest of the way.
 
The Cardinals wrap up the weekend with a 4 p.m. game at Oswego tomorrow afternoon.