Ranieri also finished with six rebounds and two blocked shots. He made 7-of-13 shots from the floor. Kirchhoff scored all of his points from behind the three-point arc, connecting on 5-of-13 long distance shots. He also dished out a team-best four assists.
Curtis Smith (Brooklyn/Paul Robeson) led Plattsburgh with 22 points and James Corless (Washingtonville) scored 10 points and recorded five assists and three steals.
The first half featured nine lead changes. Corless hit two three-pointers in the final 2:32, including the final points of the half with 1:36 left, to give the Cardinals a 29-27 lead.
Cortland struggled from three-point range in the first half, hitting only 2-of-13 shots, but warmed up to make 6-of-12 attempts from behind the arc in the second half. The Red Dragons took the lead for good at 36-34 with 15:44 left on a Simon Skrelja (Hastings-on-Hudson/Hastings) layup. A Kirchhoff trey pushed the lead to seven with 13:27 left, but the hosts closed back to within 48-45 on a Smith three-point play at the 9:56 mark.
Kirchhoff's three with 4:29 left gave Cortland a 56-47 lead and Jutton's trey 49 seconds later moved the Red Dragons' advantage to 59-48. Plattsburgh rallied from that point, though, to make the game interesting. Corless hit a layup at 2:05 to close the gap to nine.
The lead was still nine with less than a minute remaining but Cortland missed the front end of two one-and-one opportunities and the Cardinals took advantage. Smith followed the first Red Dragon miss with a three-pointer at the 44-second mark and hit a layup after the second miss with 25 seconds left to make it a four-point game. Cortland hit one free throw with 17 seconds left and Smith's layup with 10 seconds left brought Plattsburgh within three.
The hosts then forced a jump ball and regained possession on the alternate possession with seven seconds left. The Cardinals, however, missed a pair of two-point jumpers, and a Ranieri free throw with one second left closed the scoring.
SUNY Cortland vs SUNY Plattsburgh 2/5/05 4 p.m. at Plattsburgh, NY (Memorial Hall) SUNY CORTLAND 61, SUNY PLATTSBURGH 57 SUNY CORTLAND (12-8, 7-4 SUNYAC) KIRCHHOFF, Brian 5-15 0-0 15; RANIERI, Frank 7-13 1-2 15; O'GARROW, Justin 2-5 1-4 6; JANKIEWICZ, Michael 2-5 0-0 5; JUTTON, Dave 2-6 0-0 5; HEADLEY, Rod 2-5 1-1 5; SKRELJA, Simon 2-5 0-0 4; SARGENT, Joe 1-3 1-2 3; SCHALLER, Mark 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 24-58 5-11 61. SUNY PLATTSBURGH (13-7, 8-4 SUNYAC) SMITH, Curtis 9-15 2-2 22; CORLESS, James 3-9 2-2 10; SIMMONS, Jelani 4-6 0-0 8; CARTER, Johnnie 2-6 2-5 6; MILLER, Antwane 2-4 0-0 5; ANDERTON, Ernie 2-3 0-0 4; GIBBS-SMITH, Kris 1-2 0-0 2; FRASER, Calvin 0-3 0-0 0; LOWE, Jared 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 23-51 6-9 57. SUNY Cortland................. 27 34 - 61 SUNY Plattsburgh.............. 29 28 - 57 3-point goals-SUNY Cortland 8-25 (KIRCHHOFF, Brian 5-13; JANKIEWICZ, Michael 1-4; O'GARROW, Justin 1-2; JUTTON, Dave 1-5; SKRELJA, Simon 0-1), SUNY Plattsburgh 5-19 (CORLESS, James 2-6; SMITH, Curtis 2-4; MILLER, Antwane 1-3; GIBBS-SMITH, Kris 0-1; FRASER, Calvin 0-2; LOWE, Jared 0-3). Fouled out--SUNY Cortland-None, SUNY Plattsburgh-None. Rebounds-SUNY Cortland 27 (RANIERI, Frank 6), SUNY Plattsburgh 40 (SIMMONS, Jelani 9; FRASER, Calvin 9). Assists-SUNY Cortland 14 (KIRCHHOFF, Brian 4), SUNY Plattsburgh 9 (CORLESS, James 5). Total fouls-SUNY Cortland 6, SUNY Plattsburgh 16. A-200