Onondaga Community College Men’s Basketball defeats Cayuga CC in Mid-State home opener

Lazer guard Foote posts career high to lead balanced Onondaga attack

SYRACUSE, NY. – January 10, 2010 – The Onondaga Community College men’s basketball team evened its Mid-State Athletic Conference record at 1-1 yesterday with an 83-79 home victory over Cayuga Community College. The win was Onondaga’s 4th overall on the season, breaking a 7-game losing skid and raising the Lazers’ record to 4-11. The victory was also Onondaga’s 8th straight over the neighboring Spartans.

Onondaga was able to jump out to an early lead and maintain it throughout much of the contest. The Lazers pushed their advantage to as much as 10 points late in the first half, and again in the second half. However, an 11-0 run gave Cayuga its first lead at 69-66 with just under 6:00 to go in the contest. Onondaga responded with an 11-2 run of its own, however, to pull out the victory. Co-captain Nate Foote (Norwich) topped a balanced Onondaga attack with a career high 22 points, including 4 of 6 goals from behind the three-point line and a perfect 6 of 6 from the foul line. Point guard Andrew Lucio (Solvay) also recorded a career high with 14 points, and handed out a team best 8 assists. Forward Dan Mabbett (Mohawk Jarvis) reached a career high as well with 14 points, while Heath Stone (Chittenango) added 11 points and pulled down a team best 9 rebounds. Brad Romancik (LaFayette) also reached double figures with 10 points.

The Cayuga win provided a solid bounce back from Onondaga’s previous game, an 88-83 loss to Finger Lakes Community College in the Lazers’ Mid-State opener last Thursday. The Lazers were unable to hold onto a 2-point halftime lead in that game. Romancik and Christian Smith (Syracuse Henninger) led the Lazrs with 16 points each, while Dave Foltz (Auburn) added 15 points and Jake Johnson (Tully) scored 12 points and grabbed a team high 8 rebounds. Josh Kennedy (Chittenango) handed out 5 assists in the game.

The Lazers return to action on Monday evening with an 8:00 pm non-conference game at Fulton-Montgomery Community College. Following that, Onondaga will travel to Corning Community College for a Mid-State game on Thursday at 7:00 pm, before returning home to face Broome Community College next Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm.