Men’s Basketball

The Oswego State men's basketball team dominated the glass to persevere through 34 turnovers as it defeated New Jersey City University 69-65 in the first round of the Max Ziel Tournament on Friday night in Oswego. The Lakers out-rebounded the Gothic Knights 44-19 and shot 50 percent from the field on 25-for-50 to came away with their first win of the season. Chad Burridge (So., Hannibal, N.Y.) led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, while teammate Hayden Ward (Fr., Montauk, N.Y.) corralled 17 rebounds.

Oswego State clung to a 27-25 lead before putting together a 9-1 run behind a three-pointer by Jose Uribe (Jr., Queens, N.Y.), a layup by Hayden Ward, and four points from senior Stanley Francois (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) to go ahead by 10 points at 36-26 with 2:39 remaining in the first half.  However, New Jersey City scored the final five points of the period to head into the locker room trailing 39-33 despite 22 Laker turnovers.

The Gothic Knights pulled to within one point at 39-38 after a pair of free throws by Taquan Abdullah with 2:55 off of the clock in the second half.  Oswego State countered though with a 12-0 run capped off by a drive to hoop from Mike McSloy (So., Kings Park, N.Y.) to hold its largest lead of the contest with the score 51-38.

New Jersey City was not finished either as a three-point play from Isaiah Johnson ended a stretch of nine consecutive points for the Gothic Knights to make the score 51-47 in favor of the Lakers with 10:32 remaining.  The squads traded possessions until one of the 20 New Jersey City steals led to a layup by Walik Albright to cut the deficit to two points at 60-58 and 5:37 left on the clock.

The Gothic Knights trailed by one point after another steal off of their press resulted in a Josh Caver layup with 1:19 remaining in the game.  Following an Oswego State timeout, the Lakers ran time off of the clock when Chad Burridge drove the lane before dishing to a wide-open Ward for the easy basket and a three-point lead.  Sophomore Conor Monaghan (Brooklyn, N.Y.) made it a two-possession game when he made 1-of-2 free throws to give Oswego State the final 69-65 advantage.   

In addition to Burridge’s 20 points, Brenden Nollet (Fr., Hannibal, N.Y.) contributed 10 points off of the bench as nine different Lakers scored.  The Gothic Knights had three players compile 11 points each, including Josh Caver, Isaiah Johnson, and Walik Albright, and Taquan Abdullah add 10 points.



Oswego State will face Medgar Evers in the championship game at 4 p.m. on Saturday, while New Jersey City University will play Morrisville State in the third-place game at 2 p.m.



Box Score



More photos can be seen at the Oswego State Athletics Facebook Fan Page.

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