The Red Dragons win back to back games, including senior night, against SUNYAC competition over the weekend.
A big performance from this past weekend came from Freshman Aaron Coston Friday night in the 66-58 win over Oneonta. On a night where defense played a huge role, Coston would shine with a career high of 27 points on 12-16 shooting from the field.
The Senior Night thriller was led by Seniors Austin Grunder and Cam Williams, both pouring in 20 points in a 74-71 win against New Paltz. They were also very aggressive on the boards, with Grunder getting yet another double double, his 14th of the season, and tied for 9th in the nation, and Williams came down with 9. Coston would also pour in 14 points.
When looking back at the contest between Red Dragons, Grunder spoke very highly of Oneonta’s defense, as he knew just how physical of a game it would be.
“Oneonta is very tough defensively because of their size,” said Grunder. “So every bucket is earned. We didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half, but we flipped the switch in the second half and got it done.”
Grunder struggled against Oneonta’s tough defense, but wouldn’t let that phase him going into senior night. He would give praise to the Red Dragon faithful on senior night for propelling them to pick up the tough win.
“The energy was through the roof in the gym,” said Grunder. “Both teams traded blows, and ultimately with the crowd’s help we were able to get the necessary stops to close them out.”
The Red Dragons are riding high after this weekend, as these games proved to be two crucial wins regarding the postseason. This would bring them to a 16-6 record on the season, while going 11-4 in the conference. The win over Oneonta proved to be a huge difference maker in the SUNYAC standings, as Cortland now holds the #3 seed, dropping Oneonta to the #4 seed with a 9-5 conference record.
Cortland next game will be next Saturday on the road against SUNYAC top seed SUNY Oswego, in a potential revenge for the Red Dragons after losing to Oswego earlier in the season.
A lot to be excited about, as Cortland is pulling together tough wins at the right time, and a win over the conference’s highest seed could be just what the Red Dragons need to get on a hot streak right before the conference tournament.