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SYRACUSE, NY. – November 23, 2011 – The Onondaga Community College men’s basketball team was unable to hold a second half lead for the second straight game and came up one possession short on Tuesday evening, falling 64-62 to Schenectady County Community College in a game played at the Schenectady YMCA. The loss drops Onondaga’s record to 4-2 on the season, while Schenectady picked up its 5th straight win and raised its record to 5-1.
Schenectady started fast on Tuesday night, jumping out to a 13-4 advantage less than 5 minutes into the contest. Schenectady’s advantage grew to 16-6 on a Zach Edwards three-point goal with 13:10 to go in the opening stanza. At that point, Onondaga went on a run of their own, and when Adam Misener (Liverpool) connected on three consecutive three-pointers, the Lazers had their first lead at 19-18 with 6:37 to go in the half. Onondaga’s Brandon Seibt (Central Square) then found the hot hand, scoring 13 consecutive Lazer points to extend the Onondaga lead to 36-27. Schenectady’s Reece Jackson hit a three of his own just before halftime, and Onondaga led, 36-30 at the break.
Schenectady promptly scored the first 6 points of the second half to pull into a tie. The Lazers were able to regain control, however, and when Jesse Gates (Liverpool) capped a 10-1 Lazer run, Onondaga held a 46-37 lead with just over 15 minutes remaining in the game. Schenectady battled back again, however, and when Jackson hit back to back threes the Royals took their first lead of the second half at 51-50 with 8:58 to go. A field goal and two free throws from Ahmet Tunali (Syracuse Academy of Science) gave the Lazers the lead back at 54-50, but Schenectady then went on an 11-1 run to go up, 61-55, with 2:46 to go. A conventional three-point play and two additional free throws by Jordan Prior (Cortland) brought Onondaga to within 61-60 with 2:18 to go. A Jackson drive put Schenectady back up 3, but Seibt answered with a drive of his own to narrow the gap back to 1 with a minute remaining. The Lazers then got a defensive stop, and Prior was fouled driving to the basket with 28 seconds to go. He missed on both free throws, however, and the Lazers then fouled Kumar Aroujo with 18 seconds left. Aroujo made one of two free throws, but Gates and Prior both came up empty on three-point attempts in the final seconds and Schenectady escaped with the win.
Both teams struggled significantly at the offensive end of the floor. Schenectady made only 26 of 71 field goal attempts (36.6%) and only 5 of 14 free throw attempts (35.7%) and turned the ball over 21 times. Onondaga was even colder from the floor, making only 22 of 75 attempts (29.3%), including only 7 of 32 from behind the three-point arc. The 62 point output was Onondaga’s lowest since they scored 53 against SUNY Delhi in the third game of the 2010-2011 season. The Lazers only managed 26 second half points, making only 9 of 35 field goal attempts, including only 1 of 15 from behind the arc, in the second stanza. Schenectady also held a 57-47 rebounding advantage. Seibt was Onondaga’s only double figure scorer with 17 points, while Tunali grabbed 12 rebounds and Kevin Corbin (Cicero-North Syracuse) handed out 4 assists. Jackson led Schenectady with 23 points, the only Royal to hit double figures.
Onondaga is now off until after the Thanksgiving holiday. The Lazers next play on Wednesday, November 30th, when they host Word of Life Bible Institute at 6:00 pm.