Cortland (16-9, 8-8) finished fifth in the league and will travel to fourth-seeded Geneseo on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for an 8 p.m. quarterfinal matchup. The winner of that game will face either #1 Brockport or #8 SUNYIT on Friday at 3 p.m. in the semifinals at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Becker finished the game with 26 points, 17 in the second half, and he grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Davis had 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocked shots.
Freshman Dave Jutton led Cortland with 18 points and three assists. He made 5-of-10 three-pointers. Sophomore Brian Kirchhoff connected on 4-of-9 shots from behind the arc and finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Junior Justin O'Garrow contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists and sophomore Jon Rother scored 10 points.
Buffalo State never trailed in the first half, leading 5-0 to start the game and holding a 19-7 lead eight minutes into the period. The Red Dragons slowly chipped away at the lead and tied the game at 28-28 with 3:20 left on a Jutton trey. The game was tied again at 30-30 before the Bengals scored the final three points of the half.
Cortland led on two brief occasions in the second half, the latter at 46-45 with 12:16 left on a Kirchhoff free throw. The Bengals, however, outscored the Red Dragons 22-6 over the next eight minutes to take a 15-point lead. Cortland was able to get back to within eight points on Jutton's three-pointer with 3:11 left before the rally faltered.
Buffalo State vs SUNY Cortland 2/21/04 4 p.m. at Cortland, NY (Corey Gymnasium) BUFFALO STATE 75, SUNY CORTLAND 66 BUFFALO STATE (13-11/7-9 SUNYAC) BECKER, Joshua 10-18 5-6 26; DAVIS, Perry 9-21 3-7 23; CARTER, Aaron 4-9 0-0 8; KONST, Justin 3-4 0-0 8; MIRANTO, Michael 2-8 0-0 6; KONST, Jeremy 1-4 2-6 4; ROCHE, Kevin 0-1 0-0 0; PAGAN, Luis 0-2 0-0 0; ALLPORT-COHOON, Jon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-68 10-19 75. SUNY CORTLAND (16-9/8-8 SUNYAC) JUTTON, Dave 5-12 3-3 18; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 5-11 1-2 15; O'GARROW, Justin 4-8 1-4 10; ROTHER, Jon 5-15 0-0 10; PERKINS, Chad 3-6 0-0 6; RANIERI, Frank 1-6 4-4 6; WOODS, Brandon 0-2 1-2 1; ORTQUIST, Erik 0-2 0-0 0; HEADLEY, Rodney 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 10-15 66. Buffalo State................. 33 42 - 75 SUNY Cortland................. 30 36 - 66 3-point goals-Buffalo State 7-19 (MIRANTO, Michael 2-5; KONST, Justin 2-3; DAVIS, Perry 2-6; BECKER, Joshua 1-3; KONST, Jeremy 0-2), SUNY Cortland 10-31 (JUTTON, Dave 5-10; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 4-9; O'GARROW, Justin 1-4; RANIERI, Frank 0-2; WOODS, Brandon 0-1; ROTHER, Jon 0-5). Fouled out--Buffalo State-None, SUNY Cortland-None. Rebounds-Buffalo State 44 (BECKER, Joshua 14), SUNY Cortland 39 (O'GARROW, Justin 8). Assists-Buffalo State 18 (KONST, Jeremy 6), SUNY Cortland 13 (O'GARROW, Justin 3; JUTTON, Dave 3). Total fouls-Buffalo State 13, SUNY Cortland 19. A-500