Freshman Dave Jutton started the rally with a three-pointer at the 3:22 mark. Junior Justin O'Garrow recorded a steal with three minutes left and sophomore Jon Rother was fouled with 2:51 left. Rother made both free throws, and a steal by sophomore Brian Kirchhoff on the next possession led directly to a game-tying dunk by Rother with 2:41 remaining.
New Paltz (5-10, 3-5 SUNYAC) committed its third turnover in as many possessions with 2:26 left and Jutton hit his second three-pointer of the game six seconds later to give the Red Dragons a 64-61 led. O'Garrow hit a layup with 43 seconds left to extend the lead to 66-61. New Paltz missed a trio of three-pointers over its next two possessions and made one of two free throws with nine seconds left to conclude the scoring.
Rother finished with team-highs of 17 points and eight rebounds. He connected on 9-of-10 free throws. Sophomore Frank Ranieri added 14 points and seven rebounds and O'Garrow turned in a solid all-around performance with 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists and six steals.
Matt Daudier led New Paltz with 22 points and five assists. Amseshem Foluke-Henderson and John Hauser each scored 12 points. Foluke-Henderson made 6-of-7 shots from the floor.
The hosts never trailed in the first half and led by as many as 12 points (33-21) before settling for a 33-24 halftime lead. A 9-2 Cortland run, capped by five points from Ranieri, drew the Red Dragons to within 35-33 with 16:50 remaining. New Paltz regained an eight-point lead, but the game was eventually tied at 46-46 on freshman Rodney Headley's layup with 9:49 left.
Cortland was still unable to take the lead, though, and New Paltz opened its lead to eight on two more occasions. The lead was still at seven on Foluke-Henderson's jumper with 4:08 remaining, but that was the Hawks' final field goal of the evening.
SUNY Cortland vs SUNY New Paltz 1/27/04 8 p.m. at New Paltz, NY (Elting Gym) SUNY CORTLAND 66, SUNY NEW PALTZ 62 SUNY CORTLAND (11-4, 4-3 SUNYAC) ROTHER, Jon 4-13 9-10 17; RANIERI, Frank 5-14 3-6 14; O'GARROW, Justin 4-10 0-0 10; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 3-7 0-1 8; HEADLEY, Rodney 3-7 0-0 6; JUTTON, Dave 2-7 0-1 6; ORTQUIST, Erik 2-2 1-2 5; SKRELJA, Simon 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 13-20 66. SUNY NEW PALTZ (5-10, 3-5 SUNYAC) DAUDIER, Matt 8-17 2-2 22; HAUSER, John 4-8 2-4 12; FOLUKE-HENDERSON, A 6-7 0-1 12; ALLEN, Chris 2-4 0-0 4; SMITH, Jayvard 1-9 1-2 3; CARTER, Jonathan 1-1 0-0 3; IRWIN, Matt 1-3 0-0 2; CANNON, Tony 1-3 0-0 2; OTT, Steve 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 25-54 5-9 62. SUNY Cortland................. 24 42 - 66 SUNY New Paltz................ 33 29 - 62 3-point goals-SUNY Cortland 7-23 (JUTTON, Dave 2-6; O'GARROW, Justin 2-5; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 2-5; RANIERI, Frank 1-3; HEADLEY, Rodney 0-1; ROTHER, Jon 0-3), SUNY New Paltz 7-22 (DAUDIER, Matt 4-8; HAUSER, John 2-5; CARTER, Jonathan 1-1; SMITH, Jayvard 0-6; IRWIN, Matt 0-1; CANNON, Tony 0-1). Fouled out--SUNY Cortland-None, SUNY New Paltz-OTT, Steve. Rebounds-SUNY Cortland 39 (ROTHER, Jon 8), SUNY New Paltz 36 (SMITH, Jayvard 6; FOLUKE-HENDERSON, A 6). Assists-SUNY Cortland 12 (O'GARROW, Justin 6), SUNY New Paltz 12 (DAUDIER, Matt 5). Total fouls-SUNY Cortland 13, SUNY New Paltz 18. A-125