Box Score PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – In one of the most physical battles it has been involved in all season, the Plattsburgh State men’s basketball team was able to walk away with a 78-68 victory over Brockport at Memorial Hall on Friday night.

The game was a war in every sense of the word, with the teams combining for 70 free throw attempts and 51 personal fouls. With the hard-fought victory, the Cardinals improved to 14-7 and 10-4 in league warfare while the Golden Eagles slipped to 13-9 and 8-7 in SUNYAC action.

If the first half was any indication, it appeared as though shooting finesse would win the day early on. Jordan Moody got things off to a rollicking start, throwing down a fast break dunk for the first points of the game before the Golden Eagles put their outside shooting touch on display.

Thanks to some great ball movement, the visitors were able to drain five of their first six attempts from beyond the arc and build up a 25-18 lead over the Cardinals with 10:39 to go in the first half after Jordan Major’s deep triple.

Try as they might, the Cardinals just couldn’t find their offensive rhythm in the first half and the Golden Eagles would go on to lead by as many as eight points on three occasions through the first 20 minutes of action.

What they lacked in production from the field, the Cardinals made up for at the free throw stripe. Trailing 38-31 with 1:17 to go in the initial frame, Shamoy McIntosh and Reggie Williams each hit a pair of free throws to cut the Brockport lead to 40-35 entering the halftime strategy session.

Although the Golden Eagles hit 14 of their 31 shots from the field in the first half including a 6-of-13 mark (46.1 percent) from downtown, the Cardinals kept themselves in it with a 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) showing from the charity stripe.

Thanks to some timely defensive changes, the Cardinals were able to substantially slow down their SUNYAC enemies in the deciding frame. After sizzling from the field in the opening stanza, the Golden Eagles saw their luck fade away in the second half as they connected on just seven of their 32 (21.9 percent) attempts from the field.

After beginning the slow process of chipping away as the lead, Moody provided the energy the Cardinals were searching for. Employing a dandy driving maneuver, the sophomore took to the sky and threw down a ferocious slam in traffic to bring the Cardinals within one, 44-43, with 15:22 to go in the game.

Williams made good on a layup thanks to a great feed from Chris Manning that finally gave Plattsburgh State a lead, 50-48, with 12:48 remaining.

From there, the pace slowed to an excruciating pace as the personal fouls began to pile up between the two squads. That style of game seemed to appeal to the Cardinals, though, who recorded seven of their next 11 points at the free throw line to maintain a two-point lead of 61-59 with 6:26 remaining.

After Major connected on another long ball, Shavar Fields bullied his way through the lane to give the Cardinals the lead for good. The junior rattled home a hotly contested layup and finished off the old-fashioned three-point play with a make at the free throw line to begin an 8-0 run by the Cardinals.

Ezra Hodgson put a charge into the partisan congregation on the next trip down the floor as the sophomore nailed a triple off of a nifty pass from Manning. McIntosh injected more energy into the increasingly raucous crowd by throwing down a dunk to finish up the run and effectively seal the deal for Plattsburgh State.

The Cardinals went on to close things out with a 9-of-12 mark from the free throw line in the final 2:59, just part of an overall 35-of-48 (72.9 percent) effort from that distance in the game.

McIntosh thrived at the free throw line, recording a game-high 23 points and hitting all 12 of his attempts at the charity stripe. John Perez hit nine of his 12 freebies, chipping in 13 points while Moody added 13 of his own. Fields contributed 10 important points to the Plattsburgh State cause as well.

John Ivy recorded a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out for Brockport. Major added 14 for the Golden Eagles.

Williams provided a sizable spark off of the bench for Plattsburgh State, recording eight points to go along with six rebounds, five blocked shots, a steal and an assists. Chris Manning dished out a game-high nine assists and made a game-high four steals.

The teams were fairly even in field goal percentages once the dust had settled at the end of the tilt. The Cardinals were 20-of-61 (32.8 percent) from the field while the Golden Eagles hit 33.3 percent of their shots (21-of-63).

With one SUNYAC victory already under its collective belt this weekend, Plattsburgh State will look to make it a clean sweep on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals, who sit in third place in the league standings, will tangle with second-place squad SUNY Geneseo at Memorial Hall beginning at 4 p.m.