Box Score BROCKPORT, N.Y. – For all but two seconds, the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team had the upper hand on No. 16-ranked Brockport in the championship game of the 2014 SUNYAC Men's Basketball Tournament.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the two seconds where they didn't possess the lead were the final two of the game.

In a stunning turn of events, Plattsburgh State lost its grip on a 19-point second half advantage and scored just four points in the final 8:59 to finish as the runner-up in the SUNYAC Championship Tournament for the second straight year with a 57-56 setback to No. 1 overall seed Brockport on Saturday afternoon.

Brandon Caruthers drilled one of his two free throw attempts in the closing seconds to secure the victory for the Golden Eagles, who receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament.

Neither squad in the affair enjoyed a decisive advantage in terms of field goal shooting as the Cardinals (22-5) finished the game with a 21-of-66 (31.8-percent) performance from the field. Brockport (20-of-64) connected on just 31.3 percent of their field goal attempts.

As a matter of fact, both teams were virtually even with one another in all the major statistical categories through the 40-minute bout. Plattsburgh State showed off some better long range shooting than the Golden Eagles, hitting 8-of-18 compared to 3-of-17 by the hosts and finished with a 49-48 edge on the boards as well.

Junior Ezra Hodgson broke the scoring seal with a long ball 14 seconds into the championship clash, and John Perez added five points as part of the Cardinals' 10-2 surge over the first 3:26 of action.

Head coach Tom Curle called on every one of his Cardinal regulars to make life difficult for the Golden Eagles, and back-to-back three-point splashdowns by sophomore Edward Correa upped the Plattsburgh State edge to double-digits for the first time (16-5) with 13:24 to go in the opening frame.

Seeing an uptick in his playing time, junior big man Alan Siergiej dazzled down low by pumping in five points during a 7-0 Plattsburgh State run that ran the Cardinals' advantage to 23-6 just over halfway through the opening stanza.

The Golden Eagles were able to whittle Plattsburgh State's lead down to 29-18 after a Caruthers layup with four minutes to go in the half, but triples from sophomore Xavier Thomas and Hodgson managed to quiet the 2,000 Brockport faithful in attendance. Hodgson's fast-break layup with 1:07 remaining in the stanza sent the Cardinals to the break sporting a 37-21 lead.

Senior Chris Manning's three-point hit 1:57 into the deciding frame put the Cardinals up 40-21, but Brockport's once stagnant offense finally roared to life. Six players netted points through the course of a 17-3 Golden Eagle scoring blitz which cut the Cardinals' advantage to 43-38 with 12 minutes to play.

It appeared as though the 10-0 scoring streak the Cardinals responded with would be sufficient enough to finally put the Golden Eagles away for good, but that's when the offense went cold for the Cardinals.

After Perez's free throw make which made matters 52-38 Cardinals with 8:59 to go, Plattsburgh State wouldn't score another point for over seven minutes. Meanwhile, Brockport kept chipping away at the Cardinals' lead, getting it down to two, 52-50, after Aaron White capped a 12-0 run with a layup.

Perez kept it a four-point Cardinal edge as his free throw makes with 1:25 to go made the score 56-52, but Matt Lee put in a pair of layups to tie the score with 35 ticks left.

With two seconds remaining, the Cardinals had possession and called a timeout to draw up an inbounds play. When they couldn't cleanly inbound the ball, Plattsburgh State clamored for another timeout only to find out that they had exhausted their allotment. The resulting technical foul sent Caruthers to the free throw line for the clinching make.

Hodgson scored 16 for the Cardinals while Perez added 15. Both were named to the All-Tournament Team. White represented the Golden Eagles on the All-Tournament team and Caruthers earned MVP status.

The Cardinals' NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament fate now resides solely in the hands of the selection committee. Plattsburgh State will have to wait until 12:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon to see if they will be taking part in the big dance for the second year in a row. The selection show will be streamed live on NCAA.com.