Box Score PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – With the lone exception of a seven-point loss early in the 2012-13 campaign, the Plattsburgh State men’s basketball team has played their best basketball of the season in Memorial Hall.

On Friday night, not even a No. 23-ranked SUNY Cortland squad could slow down the Cardinals on the floor of the venerable facility.

Chris Manning was one assist shy of a triple double and six Plattsburgh State players finished with at least 10 points as the Cardinals upstaged the Red Dragons 80-77 in Memorial Hall on Friday evening.

Only seven players scored points for Plattsburgh State in the victory which featured a whopping 60 three-point attempts between the two squads.

Although the Cardinals couldn’t catch Cortland in the race for the number-one seed in the upcoming SUNYAC playoffs, Plattsburgh State was able to pick up a first-round bye with the victory as it clinched the No. 2 seed for the upcoming conference tournament.

It was a heavy dose of Ezra Hodgson early on for the Cardinals as the sophomore connected on a long-range basket before banking home a layup to give Plattsburgh State an early 5-2 lead.

The Red Dragons, though, showed off the many offensive weapons they possess at all locations on the court. The versatile Jeremy Smith scored 10 of the first 15 points for the Red Dragons, totally disregarding the staunch Plattsburgh State defense in swishing a pair of triples that gave Cortland their largest lead of the first half at 15-10.

Reggie Williams, inserted into the starting lineup after John Perez suffered a season-ending injury against SUNY Potsdam, scored the next four points for the Cardinals who took the lead once again after Kalik Parker canned a deep long ball that made things 19-18 with 10:31 to go in the opening frame.

Lamard Herron gave the Red Dragons one of their final two leads of the half after a pair of free throws before Hodgson and Jordan Moody drained triples that bookended an 11-0 Plattsburgh State surge that made it 30-20 with 7:59 to go in the opening stanza.

In the final minute of the game, Brian Manning gave the Red Dragons the lead once more with yet another trifecta, but Shamoy McIntosh responded with a trey of his own on the other end to send Plattsburgh to their locker room with a 40-38 lead.

Through nearly the first 10 minutes of the deciding frame Plattsburgh State held a lead of as many as six before Cortland bruiser Kevin McMahon turned the tide.

Trailing by four, the assertive forward scored the next six Cortland points before Jeremy Smith knocked down another long-range bucket that put the Red Dragons on top 62-61.

From there, the action was fast and furious as another Parker triple put the Cardinals up by four before Herron gave the Red Dragons their final lead of the day with a layup with 5:07 to go.

Manning his a pull-up jumper and McIntosh hit another trey to push the Plattsburgh State lead to four, 73-69, and the Cardinals played inspired defense and held the Red Dragons scoreless for 3:20 until McMahon hit a pair of free throws that made it a 73-71 ballgame with 1:47 to go.

It was then that Parker – normally satisfied with pulling up from beyond the arc – drove the baseline and banked in a difficult running jumper that put the score at 75-71 Plattsburgh.

From there, the Cardinals hit five of their final six free throws and Smith’s three-point try at the buzzer fell well short to help Plattsburgh State spring the upset.

Parker finished with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting that included a 4-of-8 showing from distance. Hodgson and Moody added 14 each while McIntosh and Manning chipped 11 apiece. Manning also finished with 10 rebounds and a game-high nine assists. Williams added 10 and Shavar Fields tailed four.

Smith finished with a game-high 24 for Cortland while Jesse Winter added 18. Harrison Hefele and McMahon contributed 10 each in the losing effort.

Plattsburgh State finished 13-of-16 (81.4 percent) from the charity stripe and hit 28 of their 62 (45.2 percent) field goal attempts.

Looking to close out its regular season on a winning note, the Cardinals host Oswego State on Saturday. Plattsburgh will try to earn a season sweep of their league foes beginning at 4 p.m.