Cortland (17-9) will face top-seeded Brockport in the semifinals on Friday at 3 p.m. at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The championship game is Saturday at 1 p.m. in Utica.
Junior Justin O'Garrow finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Red Dragons. Sophomores Frank Ranieri, Brian Kirchhoff and Jon Rother each scored 12 points. Ranieri also grabbed nine rebounds and Kirchhoff had seven boards.
Steve McDonnell made 3-of-5 three pointers and paced Geneseo (17-9) with 14 points. Ben Schwenebraten added 13 points, and John Kleis and Joe Zera scored 12 points each. Kleis also registered six rebounds and four assists.
Jutton made four first-half three-pointers to help the Red Dragons take a 33-28 lead at the half. Neither team led by more than three points the first 15 minutes of the game. Jutton's trey with 4:57 left in the half created the fifth tie of the half at 25-25 and sparked a 9-0 run, which he also capped with a three-pointer at the 2:36 mark, to give Cortland a 31-25 lead.
Cortland never trailed in the second half, but led by no more than eight points the rest of the way either. Geneseo closed to within 43-41 on a David Muchnick three-pointer with 13:06 left, but Rother's three-point play at the 12:30 mark extended the lead to five. The Red Dragons led 54-46 with 9:25 to go on a Ranieri jumper and 58-50 with 6:26 remaining after two Jutton free throws.
Geneseo made a late surge and got within two points twice in the final minutes. A Kleis layup with 1:05 left closed the Cortland lead to 66-64. He was fouled on the play, but missed the ensuing free throw. Jutton then responded with one of the night's biggest shots, nailing a three-pointer with 34 seconds left to give the Red Dragons a five-point lead.
Geneseo missed a three-pointer with 22 seconds left but was able to grab the offensive rebound. Steve McDonnell's three-pointer banked in from the top of the key with 18 seconds left to cut the Knights' deficit to 69-67. Cortland, however, closed the game out on two O'Garrow free throws with 14 seconds left and two Jutton charity tosses with seven seconds remaining after a Geneseo turnover.
Cortland finished the game 20-of-28 from the foul line while Geneseo was only 11-of-21. O'Garrow was 6-for-6, Jutton 5-of-6 and Rother 6-of-8. The Red Dragons also outrebounded the Knights 37-25, including a 14-7 edge on the offensive glass.
SUNYAC Quarterfinals SUNY Cortland vs SUNY Geneseo 2/24/04 8 p.m. at Geneseo, NY (Kuhl Gymnasium) SUNY CORTLAND 73, SUNY GENESEO 67 SUNY CORTLAND (17-9) JUTTON, Dave 5-10 5-6 20; O'GARROW, Justin 3-9 6-6 13; ROTHER, Jon 3-10 6-8 12; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 4-6 0-1 12; RANIERI, Frank 4-10 3-6 12; HEADLEY, Rodney 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 21-48 20-28 73. SUNY GENESEO (17-9) MCDONNELL, Steve 4-6 3-4 14; SCHWENEBRATEN, Ben 4-10 3-5 13; ZERA, Joe 4-11 2-4 12; KLEIS, John 5-9 2-6 12; KELLEY, Nick 2-2 0-0 6; REDMAN, Kurt 2-3 0-0 4; MUCHNICK, David 1-1 0-0 3; SPEARS, Greg 1-2 1-2 3; BENNETT, Brian 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-46 11-21 67. SUNY Cortland................. 33 40 - 73 SUNY Geneseo.................. 28 39 - 67 3-point goals-SUNY Cortland 11-24 (JUTTON, Dave 5-10; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 4-6; O'GARROW, Justin 1-3; RANIERI, Frank 1-3; HEADLEY, Rodney 0-1; ROTHER, Jon 0-1), SUNY Geneseo 10-19 (MCDONNELL, Steve 3-5; ZERA, Joe 2-5; SCHWENEBRATEN, Ben 2-4; KELLEY, Nick 2-2; MUCHNICK, David 1-1; BENNETT, Brian 0-2). Fouled out--SUNY Cortland-None, SUNY Geneseo-KELLEY, Nick. Rebounds-SUNY Cortland 37 (RANIERI, Frank 9; O'GARROW, Justin 9), SUNY Geneseo 25 (KLEIS, John 6). Assists-SUNY Cortland 11 (O'GARROW, Justin 5), SUNY Geneseo 14 (SCHWENEBRATEN, Ben 4; BENNETT, Brian 4; KLEIS, John 4). Total fouls-SUNY Cortland 18, SUNY Geneseo 22. A-450