PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – In their last showdown with Buffalo State, neither the Bengals nor the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team showed much of an interest in playing defense.

During the rematch of the two squads on Friday night in Memorial Hall, one team brought a substantially more potent defensive effort to the table.

That team was not Buffalo State.

Junior deep ball threat Edward Correa poured in a team-high 17 points to lead a quartet of Plattsburgh State players who finished with 11 or more markers while the Cardinals' sterling defensive effort limited Buffalo State to a shooting percentage of 31-percent (22-for-71) as Plattsburgh State swept the season series against the Bengals by an 86-71 tally.

In addition to their stifling defense, the Cardinals absolutely destroyed the Bengals in the rebounding department. Of the 59 caroms gathered by the home squad a game-best 14 were yanked down by junior Kyle Richardson. The Bengals claimed 40 rebounds in the one-sided affair.

With the win, the Cardinals push their record to 12-5 and 7-3 in conference bouts while the Bengals slipped to 10-7 and 6-5 in SUNYAC engagements. Plattsburgh State remains one game back of league-leading Oswego State as the Lakers dropped a close battle to New Paltz.

Buffalo State grabbed the lead on three separate occasions – all of which were in the first 2:04 of the conference tilt. Chris Thompson fired in three of his 15 points during a 5-4 surge by the visitors to begin things.

Inserted into the starting lineup for just the second time this season, senior Jordan Moody made his presence felt immediately. The Peekskill, N.Y., product drilled his first three field goal attempts and accounted for five points during an 8-0 Plattsburgh State run which handed the home team the lead for good. The last trio of markers came from a silky pull-up triple from Moody.

Armed with a 12-5 lead with 16:35 to go in the first, the Cardinals let their foot off the gas pedal for a moment, only to see the Bengals jump back into the thick of things. For a stretch of almost three minutes, the Cardinals couldn't buy a basket from the field and Buffalo State's Larry Rivers netted five straight points to bring the game to an 18-18 deadlock.

One of Rivers' baskets came by way of a fear-inducing put-back jam which threatened to dislodge the moorings on the Bengals' backboard.

The Cardinals, though, opened up a sizable scoring surge of their own thanks to the senior duo of Mike Mitchell and Shamoy McIntosh. The pair netted all but two of the Cardinals' points during a 13-2 stretch which saw the home team limit the Bengals to just one field goal – this one off the hand of Chris Cartwright who pumped in two of his game-high 18 with a deep two.

Up 31-20, the Cardinals saw the Bengals make their final push with back-to-back long balls from Jordan Glover and Chris Cartwright. In the final 5:21 of the half, though, Plattsburgh State simply pulled away.

Keying a devastating 13-2 run with a deep trifecta after finally busting free from the Bengals' haranguing defense, Correa netted five points during the run while freshman Zack Coleman took a pair of sharp passes from McIntosh and transformed them into a pair of two-point baskets.

The Cardinals' defensive effort was in full effect as both Correa and Tyler Coppin-Carter registered rejections in the last 1:09 of the half. When the halftime horn sounded, the Cardinals held a 46-31 lead.

That lead didn't dip below 11 points in the second half, but emotions did run high during the final frame. In the first 25-percent of the last stanza, the Bengals couldn't hit a field goal and saw the Cardinals uncork an 11-5 run which culminated with a nasty fast-break jam by Richardson.

Richardson's high-flying rim-rocker gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the game, 57-36, with 15:35 to go. Countering with an assortment of free throw makes which were the primary components of an 11-2 run, the Bengals made it a 59-47 ballgame, but that's when Xavier Thomas instructed the Bengals to quit their antics.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., product finished off an alley-oop dunk with a powerful two-handed flush before adding another fast-break jam to rile up the Cardinal faithful.

Four technical fouls were assessed during a second half which saw the teams combine to take 49 free throws and amass some 33 personal fouls. 

Aside from Correa's team-high in points, McIntosh (13), Moody (12), and Reggie Williams (11) also put in double-digits for the home brigade. 

Plattsburgh State shoots for its first home SUNYAC weekend sweep of the season on Saturday afternoon when the Cardinals welcome Fredonia State into town for a 2 p.m. tipoff.