CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team traveled to Cortland on Friday night and fell 81-62 to the Red Dragons in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) road matchup in Whitney T. Corey '43 Gymnasium. Senior guard Reem Welch (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Thomas Jefferson) had a strong performance, tying his career-high with 36 points to go along with seven rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

Junior guard/forward David McKnight Jr. (South Orange, N.J. / Columbia) also netted double figures with 10 points, while senior guard/forward Mari Johnson (Binghamton, N.Y. / Johnson City) led all players with 11 rebounds and added six points and two assists. Sophomore forward Colin Hartig (Hohen Neuendorf, Germany / Neues Gymnasium Glienicke) had a solid outing with five points and seven rebounds. Both Aidan McGuire (Turin, N.Y. / South Lewis) and Khalil Screen (Providence, R.I. / Classical) anchored the paint, finishing with two blocks each.

For the Red Dragons, Kendall Arcuri led his team in scoring with 24 points to go with four rebounds and four assists. Xavier Leveille and Joel Davis contributed 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Leveille added three rebounds and Davis seven rebounds.

Plattsburgh connected on 34.4% of its shots from the field and 27.6% from beyond the arc, while Cortland finished at 42.3% overall and 40.9% from three-point range. The Red Dragons held a narrow edge on the glass, 43-38, and in second-chance points, 16-10, but the Cardinals capitalized on turnovers, scoring eight points compared to Cortland's seven.

Plattsburgh took an early 3-2 lead after a Jaiden Gladney (Charlestown, W. Va. / Jefferson) triple followed by a Hartig layup and triple as the Cardinals led 8-5 with 16:18 remaining. After a stretch of back-and-forth play, Cortland grabbed its first lead at 13-12, but the Cardinals answered with a 6-0 burst to reclaim the advantage for good, pushing the score to 18-13 with 10:07 to play. The Cardinals continued to pour it on, extending their lead to as high as 31-20 after a Welch triple before going into the break with a 34-26 lead.

The second half saw Cortland battle back using a 16-0 tear to take a 42-34 lead as Welch ended the run with four straight points and made the score 42-38 with 14:14 to go. Another run pushed the Red Dragons' lead to double digits, but it was broken up by a Welch layup that made the score 50-40 with 11:25 to play. Plattsburgh continued to battle and trimmed the margin to 57-46 following a Welch three-pointer at the 9:21 mark, but Cortland pulled away, and the Cardinals ultimately fell 81-62.

With the loss, Plattsburgh State falls to 10-9 (7-6 SUNYAC) and is back in action tomorrow, Feb. 7, when the team travels to Morrisville for a 4 p.m. tip-off.