BUFFALO, N.Y. – A pull-up jumper by senior Brittany Marshall fell short at the horn after Buffalo State's Ashley Wallace buried two free throws with five seconds remaining as the Cardinals dropped a 59-58 decision at the Buffalo State Sports Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The loss puts the Cardinals at 5-6 with a 2-2 mark in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) tilts while the Bengals improve to 7-5 and 4-1 in conference play. It also spoiled a pair of great performances by Devona Paul and Allie Taylor. Paul, a junior, fired in a game-high 19 points and collected seven rebounds while Taylor added 16 with seven boards, four assists and two steals off the bench. Brittany Marshall was the final Plattsburgh State student-athlete to hit double-digits as she netted 12.
Although the Cardinals edged out the Bengals in terms of team shooting percentage (41.7-percent to 39.4-percent), Buffalo State owned a 41-38 advantage on the boards which included a 15-11 lead in offensive caroms – the last of which was hustled down by Wallace before her crucial free throw hits.
Both teams were particularly turnover prone in the opening stages of the important conference battle as just one point was registered by the squads in the first 4:14. In that same span, 10 turnovers were recorded.
Finally it was Paul who registered the first field goal of the confrontation, banking in a layup when 4:15 had ticked off the clock. As a matter of fact, it was the Blauvelt, N.Y., product who netted the visitors first five points, allowing them to take a 5-2 lead early on.
The lead, however slim it was, belonged solely to the Cardinals for the first 11:17 before the Bengals employed an 11-2 surge to wrest control of the game from the visitors. Clarisa Matias put the home squad on top when she connected on a long ball with 8:42 to go in the half.
Marshall provided the only Plattsburgh State points during that stretch when the defending SUNYAC Player of the Week twisted her way to the basket and hit a hard-driving layup. Wallace capped the home team's surge with a layup to make the score 17-11 with 6:59 to go in the first.
Marshall notched two of her game-best eight assists by dishing the rock to Taylor, a junior, who put in four straight points for the Cardinals and trimmed the Bengals' edge to 19-18 as 5:24 showed on the clock.
Wallace, though, scored six of the last eight Buffalo State points and helped her squad enter the locker room with a 27-22 edge.
Britnee Perry handed the home squad its biggest cushion of the game when she converted on a layup six seconds into the deciding frame which made matters 29-22. With that, the Cardinals had had enough and put on a full-court press which made the Bengals exceptionally uncomfortable.
Confounded by the Cardinals' double teams and traps, the Bengals committed eight turnovers in the first 7:36 of the final frame which allowed the Cardinals to hop in the proverbial driver's seat.
Paul and Marshall joined forces to score the first 10 Plattsburgh State points of the half, diminishing the home team's edge to 34-32 with 15:03 to go. After another Wallace layup, a fast break layup from Taylor kick-started a 12-2 surge for the visitors.
The final two buckets of that particular run came from downtown and were courtesy of Marshall and Jax Miller. Marshall's long-range goal pushed the Cardinals' edge to 44-38 with 10:58 remaining in the game.
Plattsburgh State's second-half lead expanded to as many as eight points as the teams traded baskets. With just 5:54 left, Taylor hit another layup to make the score 54-46 Cardinals, but a 6-2 Buffalo State scoring spree made the score 56-53 with 4:03 to go.
Paul's layup with 3:17 remaining proved to be the last two points the Cardinals would score in the game. In the closing minutes of the game, the Cardinals went 0-for-3 from the field and committed one turnover
Still leading by one, 58-57, with 10 ticks left, Stephanie Linder misfired on the front end of a one-and-one try at the foul line before Perry did the same on the other end for the Bengals. The difference, though, was Wallace who snared the offensive rebound and hit her game-winning free throws.
Wallace finished with a team-best 18 points for the Bengals while Perry added 10. Jordan Yastremski collected eight points and leaped to grab a game-high 11 rebounds.
Friday night represents the next time the Cardinals will be in action. Returning home to Memorial Hall, Plattsburgh State will take on longtime nemesis Oswego State at 7:30 p.m.
