PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Thanks to the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team, every one of the 10 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) squads has at least one blemish on their conference records.

Oswego State, though, certainly didn't go down without a devil of a fight.

Reggie Williams shredded the Lakers' hapless interior defense for a game and career-high 24 points and yanked down a career and game-high 14 rebounds while junior Edward Correa buried a clutch long ball with 1:09 to go, giving the Cardinals the breathing room they needed for a 70-66 triumph over Oswego State in Memorial Hall on Friday night.

With the win, the Cardinals improve to 9-3 and 4-1 in conference play while the Lakers (9-4, 5-1 SUNYAC) suffered their first SUNYAC setback of the season despite erasing a 16-point second half deficit on the strength of 6-for-13 (46.2-percent) three-point shooting in the final frame. Additionally, head coach Tom Curle has moved into a tie for first place in terms of total wins as a Plattsburgh State men's basketball coach. He tied Joe Jastrab, who gathered up his 204 triumphs from 1953-69.

For the game, the Cardinals held a slim 44.1 (26-for-59) to 43.1 percent (25-for-58) shooting advantage over the Lakers but were limited to a paltry 4-for-18 (22.2-percent) showing from downtown thanks to the Lakers' league-leading three-point field goal percentage defense. A 46-32 rebounding advantage helped the home team eke out the triumph, too.

Of the Cardinals' first 14 points of the tilt, none were scored by individuals other than Correa or Williams. Just four seconds into the big-time tilt, Correa notched his first deep moneyball of the night off a smooth pass from senior Mike Mitchell.

Williams, a senior out of Yonkers, N.Y., closed out Plattsburgh State's 7-0 opening salvo by backing down a pair of Laker defenders and capitalizing on easy layups. Countering with an identical scoring spree of their own, the Lakers received scores from a trio of players – the last of which was a smooth hit from long range by Dustin Pond – to knot matters at seven just 3:18 into the bout.

That tie didn't last long though as Williams made it five for his first five field goal attempts with another pair of layups bookended around another Correa deep ball. Oswego State battled back and managed to knot it up one last time in the initial stanza, using another triple from Pond to put the finishing touches on a 7-4 run which made the score 22-all with 10:16 to go.

From there, though, the Cardinals showed little signs of stress on the defensive end, limiting the Lakers to just four more field goals through the rest of the frame. On the offensive end, Plattsburgh State pushed its lead back to seven with a layup from Kyle Richardson followed by a three-point play by Shamoy McIntosh and a put-back layup by sophomore Vaughn Dweck.

Twice the Lakers would shrink the Plattsburgh State lead to four in the first 20-minute stanza, the last of which occurred when Walter Sampson hit a hard-driving layup to make the score 35-31 with 3:21 remaining.

The first half, though, finished just as it began for the Cardinals – with a 7-0 run comprised entirely of points from Correa and Williams. The former hit a trio of free throws while Williams upped his first-half shooting numbers to 7-for-8 with two more soft touches in the paint.

Armed with a 42-31 lead headed to the last half, it was another heavy dose of Correa and Williams early on which upped the Cardinals' edge to its largest of the game. Williams netted the first five of the half on a layup coupled with an old-fashioned three-point play and Correa made the score 49-33 with a layup of his own as 18:34 shimmered on the second-half clock.

Over the next 7:34, though, the Lakers anchored down in their own offensive end and proceeded to dump a sizable scoring payload on top of the once-comfortable home team. A 20-5 run during the period was sparked by sharpshooter Alex Rawa who dropped in a trio of deep balls, the last of which trimmed the Cardinals' lead to 54-53.

Once again, it was Williams who righted the Cardinals' proverbial ship as a three-point play almost two minutes after Rawa's latest three-pointer pushed the Plattsburgh State edge back to 57-53.

With four free throw makes as well as an additional triple from Rawa, the Lakers bounded ahead by a 60-58 score with 7:26 to play. The Lakers' lead remained in front when Sampson made it a 62-60 score with a short jumper in the painted area, but thanks to an inspired defensive effort by the Cardinals, Oswego would net just four more points and one more field goal during the last 6:24.

Correa's dagger triple was the final salvo of an 8-1 Plattsburgh State run during that time frame. Jordan Moody slung in three points of his own with a free throw and an acrobatic layup. Ian Shupp banged a contested triple to make the score 68-66 with 52 ticks left, but Rawa hit iron on his three-point attempt with 15 ticks left and Correa headed to the free throw stripe to finish things off with a pair of makes. 

The only other Plattsburgh State player to reach double figures, Correa slung in 16 in 4-for-8 shooting. Williams' big night came on an 11-for-15 showing from the field and the senior also collected three of the Cardinals' four blocked shots. 

Sampson was the high-point man for the Lakers, netting 14 while passing out a game-best six assists. Rawa finished with nine and a team-high 11 rebounds. 

In order to achieve a 2-0 weekend, the Cardinals will have to get past SUNY Cortland on Saturday afternoon. Curle will shoot for his milestone win when the two teams tip off at 2 p.m.