Box Score BUFFALO, N.Y. – It's not how you start, as they say, it's how you finish.

Well, scratch that. On occasion, no part of the above axiom is particularly true.

Neither the start nor the finish was particularly impressive for the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team, but the Cardinals (12-3, 6-2 SUNYAC), assisted by four players who scored at least 13 points, found their shooting touch when it counted and held on for an 87-83 triumph over Buffalo State in a Friday night tussle at the Buffalo State Sports Arena.

High-flying sophomore Xavier Thomas led the way for the Cardinals, pouring in a career-high 21 points and completed his double-double with a team-high 12 rebounds. Shavar Fields (17), Edward Correa (15) and John Perez (13) were the other three Cardinals who reached double-figures and senior Chris Manning distributed a game-high among the Cardinals' ranks in the victory. The quartet put in enough points to offset 20 Plattsburgh State turnovers. 

The Bengals (7-8, 3-5 SUNYAC) took their home floor with machinations of an upset on their brains, jumping out to an 11-5 lead in the first 3:05 of the conference clash before the Cardinals were able to regain their composure on both ends of the basketball court.

After Buffalo State's Justin Mitchell swished a free throw to account for his squad's largest lead of the night 3:42 into the tilt, the Cardinals put their running shoes on and sprinted off on a 27-5 run that used up the next 6:36 on the first half clock.

The senior wrecking crew of Shavar Fields and John Perez combined to score the first 12 Plattsburgh State points of the mammoth run, but Justin Mitchell made sure his Bengals were still within reach by pouring in points 10 through 22 for the home squad.

With their lead sitting at 17-16, the Cardinals gave the OK for sophomore sharpshooter Edward Correa to venture out beyond the arc and deal some long-range damage to the Bengals. The Bronx, N.Y., product was more than eager to oblige, splashing his second of five long balls to commence the second stage of the sizable offensive assault.

Thomas and junior Ezra Hodgson joined up with Correa to score the following 15 points for the visiting squad. Hodgson fired and connected on a long-range attempt of his own before closing out the run with a fast break layup. Working exclusively near the basket, Thomas contributed a flashy fast break layup as well as a powerful slam dunk to the Cardinals' cause.

Armed with a 32-20 lead with 8:40 to go in the opening stanza, the Cardinals saw that lead diminish at an astonishing pace thanks to the shooting prowess of Buffalo State's Chris Boyd. The Bengal caught fire from long range, swishing a trio of trifectas and picking up a rare four-point play to cut Plattsburgh State's lead to 36-30 with 4:41 to go in the frame.

The Cardinals turned to Thomas to keep them afloat during Boyd's terrific shooting stretch, and the sophomore did not let his squad down. By pulling up and hitting a fast break jumper followed with a triple, the native of Brooklyn, N.Y., kept the Cardinals' edge at seven points.

That lead, though, was cut to just one as Chris Thompson and Mitchell scored the next six points. Mitchell punctuated the miniature spurt in a powerful manner, throwing down a fast break jam before putting the finishing touches on his three-point play with a swish at the foul line.

In the last 2:08 of the half, Fields put in four more points for the visitors, but another long-range hit by Roderick Epps trimmed the Cardinals' lead to 45-43 entering the halftime break.

Legree Kirkland hit a pair of short-range buckets in the first 1:09 of the deciding frame which gave the Bengals a 47-45 lead and set off a lengthy stretch of call and response by the dueling squads.

As the seconds ticked away through the initial 10-minutes stretch of the second frame, the squads combined for six ties and five lead changes with neither team enjoying an advantage that exceeded three points.

The Bengals' final push of the game came courtesy of Chris Thompson and Mitchell. Back-to-back layups off Thompson's hand pushed the Buffalo State lead to 63-59 with nine minutes remaining and an additional close-range bank shot by Mitchell kept it a four-point margin before some timely long-range shooting turned the tide for the visitors.

Shamoy McIntosh and Correa put the Cardinals ahead for good by rattling home back-to-back long balls to make it a 67-66 ballgame with 6:12 to go.

From then on, Plattsburgh State set up shop at the free throw line, scoring 14 of their final 20 points from that particular distance to secure the win.

Although the possessed an 83-76 edge with just 45 seconds to go, the Cardinals weren't out of the woods as they committed a number of fouls in the waning seconds that both forced the game clock to grind to a halt and send the Bengals to the free throw line. On two occasions, the home team trimmed the Cardinals' edge to just four, but by the time they had done it for the final time, only three seconds remained.

For the game, the Cardinals hit 26 of their 53 field goal attempts (49.1 percent), including a 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) mark from downtown. Their accurate shooting not just limited to the field, Plattsburgh State also converted on 25 of their 30 (83.3 percent) free throw attempts.

Mitchell registered game highs in both points (24) and rebounds (15), while Epps (20 points) Boyd (16) and Kirkland (10) also starred for the Bengals.

A short jaunt to Fredonia is in order as the Cardinals shoot for a 3-0 week when they match up with SUNYAC bottom feeder Fredonia State (4-11, 1-7 SUNYAC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.