Box Score PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – If any follower of the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team was worried that John Perez would emerge as a more timid basketball player coming off of his injury at the tail end of the 2012-13 campaign, the senior assuaged all fears by sending a message in his first home game since February 21.

That particular report probably read a little something like this: I'm back, and nothing has changed.

The Haverstraw, N.Y., product poured in 19 points and ripped down 14 rebounds – both of which were game highs and one away from tying his career highs – to help the Cardinals put away a pesky St. Lawrence squad down the stretch in an 82-69 Memorial Hall triumph on Tuesday night.

Rhythm was a difficult thing to come by in the non-conference skirmish as the teams combined for 41 fouls and 38 turnovers. The Cardinals, though, used the St. Lawrence miscues to their advantage, amassing 32 points off of the Saints' 23 turnovers.

Plattsburgh State did finish the game as the owners of a 47.5 percent (28-of-59) shooting percentage, but had to work through a trying first couple of minutes. The Cardinals came out of the gates and bricked their first eight field goal attempts before senior Chris Manning finally broke the seal on the home basket with a layup that tied things at two with 16:48 remaining in the initial frame.

With the lid seemingly off the Cardinals' basket, Edward Correa dialed up a deep triple before Perez banked home a layup thanks to a pretty dish by Manning to give the home squad their largest lead of the half, 7-2.

In response, St. Lawrence employed an 8-2 surge which culminated with a three-point play by Kyle Edwards to take their biggest advantage of the ball game, 10-7, with 13:34 to go in the half.

The trend of exchanging runs continued as consecutive long balls by Manning and Correa put the Cardinals up 15-12. With 11:07 to go in the first half, Payton Stahler put the Saints back on top after his layup made the tally 16-15.

Shortly thereafter, the high-flying Xavier Thomas sauntered into the game, giving the Cardinals a big boost of energy.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., product scored six consecutive points for Plattsburgh State with a pair of layups which could have easily been dunks and an additional tip-in. The Cardinals' 24-19 lead began to shrink again after Janpeter Brase cruised past a vacant weak side for an easy two-handed jam and Kyle Kobis drilled a three-pointer that gave the Saints a 26-24 lead.

St. Lawrence captured its final lead of the game when Al Jones connected on a deep three-point field goal that made it 29-27 with 5:07 left in the opening frame. A 7-0 scoring streak by Plattsburgh State was wrapped up when Ezra Hodgson hit pay dirt with a triple the made the score 34-29 Cardinals with 2:04 to go in the half.

From that point on, the Cardinals wouldn't trail again but St. Lawrence would shrink the lead of the home team to as few as five points on six occasions throughout the deciding frame. Brady Condlin swished a pair of free throws with 5:52 to go which trimmed the Cardinals' lead to 63-58, before the Cardinals were finally able to put some considerable distance between them and their North Country rivals.

Shamoy McIntosh kicked off an 8-0 Plattsburgh State surge with a free throw make, and Jordan Moody put the finishing touches on it by rattling home a shot attempt from downtown to extend the lead to 71-58 with 3:46 remaining in the tilt.

After struggling from the charity stripe early in the game, Plattsburgh State was able to close out the Saints with an 11-of-14 performance from that particular distance over the final 2:16.

Manning added a career-high 16 points to the Plattsburgh State cause to go along with game highs in steals (six) and assists (six). Correa tied a career-high by chipping in 13 points for the Cardinals who shot 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from the field and 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) from the charity stripe.

Kobis and Condlin finished with team-high scoring honors for the Saints by amassing 15 points each. Brase hauled in a team-high 11 rebounds for St. Lawrence which outrebounded the Cardinals 40-36 but shot 25-of-60 (41.7 percent ) in their second defeat of the season.

Two weeks stand between the Cardinals and their next tilt, as they welcome non-conference nemesis Keene State into Memorial Hall on Tuesday, December 3, for a 7 p.m. tip-off.