The win, coupled with Buffalo State's loss at Brockport, puts Cortland in a tie for eighth in the SUNYAC standings with 4-8 records and four games remaining. The top eight teams qualify for the league tournament. Cortland is now 8-13 overall. Oneonta drops to 10-11 overall and 8-4 in league play.
Senior Dave Maggiacomo (Pleasant Valley/Arlington) made 4-of-6 three-pointers and finished with 13 points. Freshman Mike Lewis (Brewerton/Paul V. Moore) scored seven points, all in the final six minutes, and shared the team lead with eight rebounds.
William Heslin (Schaghticoke/Hoosic Valley) led Oneonta with 18 points, 16 in the second half, along with seven rebounds. He made 11-of-13 free throws. Bobby Fisk (Coeymans/Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons) scored 13 points and Eric Bratt (Roslyn) added 11 for the guests. Both Fisk and Bratt made three shots from behind the three-point line.
Trailing 48-45 after Heslin's three-point play with 6:26 remaining, Cortland used six straight points by Lewis to take a 51-48 lead. Lewis hit layups at the 5:46 and 5:14 marks and sank two free throws with 4:41 remaining. Niehoff made one free throw with 3:38 left to extend the lead to four, but Heslin hit a three-pointer from the right corner with the shot clock about to expire to pull Oneonta back within 52-51 with 3:02 left.
Niehoff grabbed a key offensive rebound after a Jutton miss with 2:25 left and, following a timeout, hit a short running bank shot with 2:05 left to give Cortland a three-point lead. Heslin answered with two free throws at the 1:39 mark to cut the margin back to one. Maggiacomo missed on a three-pointer with 1:14 left, but Lewis controlled the rebound. Cortland set up a play after a timeout and Jutton drove down the middle of the lane for a lay-in with 49 seconds left.
Heslin was fouled with 28 seconds remaining and made to foul shots to once again bring Oneonta within a point. Jutton was fouled in the backcourt three seconds later and made both of his free throws. Bratt missed on a driving layup attempt with 14 seconds left and, after Heslin's offensive rebound, was also off the mark on a potential tying three-pointer with eight seconds left. Lewis controlled the rebound, was fouled and made the second of two free throws with five seconds remaining to finish the scoring. Lewis also stole the ensuing Oneonta inbounds pass to end the game.