Cortland Men’s basketball no longer has a losing record after last Friday’s impressive road win against the Potsdam Bears 66-61. This brings the Red Dragons to an above .500 record in the conference at 7-6 and an overall record of 10-10.
While the game for the most part was a relatively close one, the Red Dragons did manage to get out to an early lead of 10+ points and in doing so never trailed in the entire game. Aaron Coston was the story of the game, scoring a season high 25 points while pulling in 7 rebounds and shooting 10-17 from the field. Junior guard Jaylen Warmack was the only other Red Dragon in double figures for scoring, adding 16 points and 4 rebounds.
This marks the first game in a four-game road trip for Cortland, a critical stretch for the team as this will be the last stretch of the regular season where they will be on the road. Although Potsdam hasn’t had the best season (an overall record of 3-17 after Friday’s contest) this game was a lot closer than their first meeting earlier this season, where the Red Dragons won in blow out fashion 81-63.
The Red Dragons during the game shot a tad under 35% from the field while shooting below 25% from three. While these numbers are underwhelming, the team did shoot 81% from the free throw line, including two clutch free throws at the end of the game by sophomore guard Gaige Armbrewster to seal the deal.
With this victory, Cortland is now in a three-way tie in the SUNYAC with Oneonta, who the Red Dragons defeated in the previous game, and Plattsburgh, which is Cortland’s next opponent in a pivotal conference matchup for 4th place on February 3. If Cortland ends up with the victory in that game, they will be in prime position to keep their spot in the top half of the SUNYAC.
How far can these Red Dragons go? Aaron Coston, the man that led the charge against the Bears, said he likes their chances.
Aaron Coston (#34)
“I feel like our team has the tools to win it all,” said Coston. “We’re starting to click because we’re starting to all get on the same page and play for one another.”
After Plattsburgh, the Red Dragons travel to Brockport on February 9 to take on the Golden Eagles, followed by a trip to Geneseo on the 10th to face the Knights. This will wrap up the four-game road trip and will take the team into the final two game home stretch of the season, as they take on the Buffalo State Bengals on February 16 and the Fredonia Blue Devils on the 17th to wrap up the regular season.