NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team fell to Norwich in a close contest on the road, falling 70-64. Junior guard Kareem Welch (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Thomas Jefferson) had a Plattsburgh State career-high 23 points which led all scorers. Welch also grabbed 11 rebounds which led all players as well for his first double-double on the season.

The Cardinals had three other scorers notch double figures as well in Jeremiah Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y. / East New York Family Academy), Ikechukwu Ezike (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Paul Robeson), and Franklin Infante (East Rockaway, N.Y. / East Rockaway). Smith and Ezike both tallied 11 points and grabbed six rebounds while Smith also added three blocks. Infante added 10 points to go with 10 rebounds for the first double-double of his career.

For the Cadets, Owen Liss led the team in scoring with 21 points while also adding six rebounds and three blocks. Kohlby Murray also contributed to the win with 16 points, four rebounds, and three steals.

Both teams nearly shot the same percentage from the field as the Cardinals shot a solid 34.9% and the Cadets 35.7%. The Cardinals controlled the boards winning the rebounding battle 47 to 37. The Cardinals lost the turnover battle with 19 while the Cadets only had 13 and got 19 points off turnovers compared to the Cardinals 10.
 
Plattsburgh State falls to 1-1 with the loss and are back in action Tuesday, Nov.19 at home against St. Lawrence with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Norwich moves to 2-0 with the win and next travels to MCLA on Tuesday, Nov. 19 with a start time of 6 p.m.

The first half saw Norwich open up with an 8-2 lead before a layup from Sasha Vidrini (Trieste, Italy / Liceo Rogazionisti) made the score 8-4 Cadets at the 17:00 mark. A three from Welch brought the Cardinals within one but a 9-0 Norwich run made the score 19-9 Cadets at the 12:29 mark and gave them a double-digit lead. The Cardinals cut the lead to single digits after a three from Welch sparked a Plattsburgh 9-0 run and made the score 22-20 Cadets halfway through the first half. A tip-in layup from Welch gave the Cardinals their first lead momentarily however Norwich responded with six straight points and retook the lead 34-30 with less than four minutes remaining. The Cardinals ended the first half with back-to-back scores coming from Ezike and Infante that gave them a 37-36 lead going into halftime.

It didn't take long for Norwich to tie the game up after two free throws from Liss tied and then gave the Cadets a 38-37 lead at the 18:37 mark. Five straight points from Norwich extended their lead to 43-37 at the 15:04 mark. Two made free throws from Welch tied the game at 49, however Norwich went on another run and regained the lead 56-49 at the 8:50 mark. With less than two minutes remaining two clutch shots from Infante made the score 66-64 and brought the Cardinals within two but the Cardinals only had one more shot the rest of the game and fell 70-64.