Box Score PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Back in 1977, a relatively unknown soul crooner by the name of Theodore DeReese Pendergrass released his self-titled debut album that – unbeknownst to him at the time – would rocket him up the musical charts and into the bright glare of the limelight.

The leadoff track on Teddy Pendergrass was an up-tempo ditty entitled, "You Can't Hide From Yourself." In it, the smooth-singing voice man encouraged scores of listeners around the globe to, "understand who and what you are before you can go any further."

It appears as though the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team has taken the words of the late Pendergrass to heart. That is because after each and every curveball that could have buckled the Cardinals, they have come to the realization that they are an exceptionally talented basketball team that possesses any number of weapons that can go off on any different night. That mindset has now brought them all the way to one of the furthest points reached by any Plattsburgh State basketball squad in the program's rich history.

Senior John Perez amassed a game-high 21 points and completed a monstrous double-double with 15 rebounds to lead Plattsburgh State (24-5) past Eastern Connecticut State (23-7), 70-60, in an NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament second round clash in Memorial Hall on Saturday night.

Using eight players, the Cardinals connected on 46.3-percent (25-of-54) of their field goal attempts to punch their tickets to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. After trailing by three points at the half and by as many as four in the early stages of the deciding frame, Plattsburgh State embarked on a 9-0 run that featured a powerful punctuation to take the lead for good.

With a number of fouls encumbering the Haverstraw, N.Y., product in the Cardinals' Friday night triumph over MIT, Perez came out eager to prove that he would be nothing short of a dominating force in the Saturday bout.

Trachone Preston splashed one of just five Warrior three-pointers to put the visiting squad up 3-0 a little over one minute into the postseason battle. Plattsburgh State took its first lead of the game when senior Chris Manning capped a 4-0 run with a hard-driving move to the tin to sink a layup.

One of the primary objectives for Plattsburgh State was to keep high-flying Eastern Connecticut freshman Hugh Lindo off of the glass, but that didn't go quite as planned. The lanky first-year star corralled a game-high 20 rebounds during the tilt and rose high off the court for a powerful two-handed jam which staked the Warriors to a 9-6 lead 4:30 into things.

Plattsburgh State regained the lead when Perez put in his first two of eight straight Cardinal markers, but the Warriors used a 9-0 surge that was finished off with five points from Kevin Leumene to earn a 22-17 edge with 8:15 to go in the opening stanza.

Xavier Thomas made sure the Cardinals would gain the lead once more in the first half when his layup made matters 25-24 in favor of the home squad, but Leumene added another quintet of points before Lindo hit a layup at the buzzer to put the Warriors on top 31-28 at the break.

It became quite clear that the Cardinals wouldn't work their way out of this particular jam by relying solely on the smooth long-range shooting from the night before, so Perez kept his squad afloat in the second half with a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays.

Perez knocked down eight of the first 11 Plattburgh State points of the frame while long-range specialist Edward Correa canned a triple to account for the other three, but Eastern Connecticut was thoroughly unimpressed with the Cardinals' arsenal and employed another Preston jump shot to go up 46-43 with 12:49 to go.

Mike Mitchell rose up and connected on a long ball of his own before Ezra Hodgson followed suit. In the midst of a 6-0 surge, the Cardinals had yet to make their sizable crowd a factor. That's where Thomas came in.

On a well-designed inbounds play, the springy sophomore took to the sky and unleashed a ferocious one-handed slam dunk on an unfortunate Warrior which brought Memorial Hall to its feet. The Brooklyn, N.Y., product put the wraps on his three-point play with a swish at the foul line. 

With their raucous congregation cheering them on, the Cardinals would never trail again. Eastern Connecticut trimmed the lead to 54-52 with an additional Preston make as 6:54 remained on the clock, but Shamoy McIntosh responded with a personal 7-0 run which began with a three-point hit.

Up 61-52 with 3:25 to go after McIntosh's single-handed offensive outburst, the Cardinals closed things out down the stretch and Mitchell put the final nail in the Warriors' coffin with a fast-break layup which made matters 69-60 with 54 seconds to go.

McIntosh (14) and Mitchell (11) rounded out the primary Plattsburgh scoring triumvirate, while Leumene and Preston each chipped in 14 for the Warriors. 

In their next game, the Cardinals will be out for revenge against defending Division III national champion Amherst College. The Lord Jeffs ended Plattsburgh State's season in 2012-13, and the Cardinals will battle their NESCAC enemies with a trip to the Elite Eight at stake. The game is scheduled to be played on Friday, with location and time to be announced later in the week.