Cortland took a 62-61 lead on senior Dave Maggiacomo’s (Pleasant Valley/Arlington) long three-pointer with about 16 seconds remaining. After RIT raced down the court, Roy took the ball, dribbled through the top portion of the lane, then turned a nailed his second field goal of the night to put the Tigers ahead. Cortland, out of timeouts, quickly moved up the court for a final shot. Senior Dave Jutton (Red Hook) dribbled into the lane, then passed to sophomore Juan Miolan (Troy) on the left baseline. Miolan’s jumper was too strong, however, as the buzzer sounded.
Junior Barrett Zeinfeld (Tucson, AZ/Catalina Foothills) led RIT with 15 points and four steals. Junior Kenny Gethers (Syracuse/Bishop Grimes) added 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots and senior Tim Bacon (Massena) scored 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
Maggiacomo led Cortland with 15 points, including 3-of-5 three-pointers. He also grabbed a career-high six rebounds. Sophomore Carson Niehoff (West Islip) finished with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds and Jutton scored 10 points and garnered six rebounds.
Cortland took a 9-7 lead on Maggiacomo’s three-pointer with 15:33 left in the first half and did not trail again until late in the game. The Red Dragons led 30-18 with 7:24 remaining in the period, but RIT scored the next 10 points and pulled to within 30-28 with 1:44 left.
Cortland held a 34-30 lead at halftime and was up 48-38 with 14:58 left after a Maggiacomo jumper. RIT slowly whittled away its deficit and eventually took a 58-57 lead on a Rick Whitwood (Wellsville) three-pointer with 3:31 on the clock. Gethers made a free throw with 2:52 left and two more charity tosses at the 1:58 mark to give the Tigers a four-point lead.
Niehoff’s offensive rebound and putback with 1:31 left cut the RIT lead to two. Maggiacomo stole the ball with 1:04 left, but his jumper with 43 seconds left was blocked by Gethers. Cortland maintained possession after the ball went out of bounds, but a Jutton three-pointer with 35 seconds left was off the mark. Rob Hampton (Ocala, FL/Belleview) grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 32 seconds left. He missed the front end of a 1-and-1, however, and Cortland regained possession.
RIT committed a foul with 18 seconds left, but Cortland was not in the bonus yet. Following a timeout, Jutton inbounded the ball from the baseline out to Maggiacomo, who hit the go-ahead three-pointer that set up the final dramatics.