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SYRACUSE, NY. – February 1, 2009 – The Onondaga Community College men’s basketball team rallied from a 14 point second half deficit to defeat neighboring Cayuga Community College, 80-78, at home on Saturday afternoon. The win completed a season sweep for the Lazers over the Spartans, and marked Onondaga’s 7th straight win over Cayuga. The Lazers have now won 7 of their last 10 games to raise their overall record to 11-10, with a 4-3 mark in Mid-State Athletic Conference play. Cayuga fell to 9-13, 2-6 in conference. During yesterday’s contest, the coaching staffs from both schools joined basketball coaches from around the country by wearing white sneakers in observance of Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Weekend.
Onondaga started fast against Cayuga, jumping out to an early 17-11 advantage. The Spartans responded, however, coming back to take a 46-37 lead into halftime. Cayuga extended its lead to 56-42 with 12:12 to go before Onondaga started its comeback. The Spartans still held a 7 point lead at 75-68 with under 3 minutes to go, but the Lazers capped a 10-1 run with a Matt Potter (New Berlin Unadilla Valley) basket with 43 seconds left to take their first lead since midway through the first half. Cayuga scored with 25 seconds to go to tie the game, but Potter scored again on a goaltending violation with 3 seconds to go to give the Lazers the victory. Jason Kondra (East Syracuse-Minoa) led Onondaga with 18 points and 6 assists. Potter and Dave Foltz (Auburn) added 12 points each, while Jordan Barzee (Syracuse Christian Home School) tallied 10 points and 6 assists. Zach Chawgo (LaFayette) was Onondaga’s top rebounder with 7. The Lazers were able to pull out the win despite making only 29 of 79 shots (36%) and being outrebounded by Cayuga, 54-38. Cayuga made 30 of 62 field goal attempts (48%), but committed 26 turnovers, compared to only 10 for Onondaga.
Last Thursday, Onondaga dropped a 78-74 road decision to Mid-State leading Finger Lakes Community College. In that game, the Lazers again fell behind by double figures in the second half before rallying to within 3 in the final minute. Kondra topped 4 double figure scorers with 21 points, while Chawgo added 15 and Potter 12. Brad Romancik (LaFayette) scored 10 points and topped the Lazers with 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Turnovers turned out to be the difference in this game as well, as Onondaga turned it over 23 times, compared to 17 for the Lakers.
Onondaga returns to action with a non-conference game on Thursday night at 8:00 pm at nationally ranked Herkimer County Community College. The Lazers then travel to Corning Community College for a Mid-State Conference game on Saturday afternoon, before returning home for a non-conference tilt with North Country Community College next Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm.