Rother made 9-of-14 shots from the floor and continued his streak of scoring in double figures in every game this season. Junior Justin O'Garrow added 17 points, five assists and four steals and freshman Dave Jutton scored 12 points, all on first-half three-pointers. Sophomore Frank Ranieri tallied eight points, grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and matched his career best with four assists.
Kurt Troyer led Oneonta with 17 points and five assists and Nick Brunick scored 11 points.
A decisive 14-0 run from the 13:27 mark to the 10:21 point of the first half erased a 9-8 deficit and gave Cortland a 22-9 lead. Rother and sophomore Erik Ortquist each scored four points during the run and O'Garrow and Jutton each made a three-pointer.
Oneonta momentarily reduced the lead to 22-13 on baskets by Troyer and Adam Rios, but Cortland sophomore Brian Kirchhoff (Webster) hit a three-pointer – his first of three treys in just four attempts – to push the lead to 12. Cortland's lead fluctuated between 11 and 19 points the remainder of the game.
Cortland made 10-of-22 three-pointers, including 7-of-13 (54 percent) in the first half. The Red Dragons outrebounded Oneonta 43-30.
SUNY Cortland vs SUNY Oneonta 2/10/04 8 p.m. at Oneonta, NY (Dewar Arena) SUNY CORTLAND 77, SUNY ONEONTA 59 SUNY CORTLAND (13-7, 6-6 SUNYAC) ROTHER, Jon 9-14 2-4 21; O'GARROW, Justin 6-13 3-4 17; JUTTON, Dave 4-10 0-0 12; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 3-4 0-0 9; RANIERI, Frank 3-10 2-2 8; ORTQUIST, Erik 2-5 2-4 6; WOODS, Brandon 2-5 0-1 4; HEADLEY, Rodney 0-2 0-0 0; DEMPSEY, R.J. 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-64 9-17 77. SUNY ONEONTA (3-16, 2-9 SUNYAC) TROYER, Kurt 7-15 1-2 17; BRUNICK, Nick 4-8 2-2 11; NEGREANU, Anthony 4-8 0-0 9; MOORE, MacLean 4-7 0-0 8; RIOS, Adam 3-9 0-0 7; COFFEY, Sean 3-7 0-0 6; BILELLO, Steven 0-3 1-2 1; REARDON, Michael 0-1 0-0 0; MURPHY, Jaysen 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 25-60 4-8 59. SUNY Cortland................. 44 33 - 77 SUNY Oneonta.................. 28 31 - 59 3-point goals-SUNY Cortland 10-22 (JUTTON, Dave 4-10; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 3-4; O'GARROW, Justin 2-4; ROTHER, Jon 1-2; WOODS, Brandon 0-1; RANIERI, Frank 0-1), SUNY Oneonta 5-17 (TROYER, Kurt 2-5; BRUNICK, Nick 1-4; NEGREANU, Anthony 1-3; RIOS, Adam 1-1; COFFEY, Sean 0-3; MOORE, MacLean 0-1). Fouled out--SUNY Cortland-None, SUNY Oneonta-None. Rebounds-SUNY Cortland 43 (RANIERI, Frank 14), SUNY Oneonta 30 (RIOS, Adam 7). Assists-SUNY Cortland 14 (O'GARROW, Justin 5), SUNY Oneonta 12 (TROYER, Kurt 5). Total fouls-SUNY Cortland 9, SUNY Oneonta 17. A-523