O'Garrow made 3-of-4 field goals and 7-of-8 attempts from the foul line. Junior Simon Skrelja (Hastings-on-Hudson/Hastings) finished with 12 points and team-highs of eight rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Dave Jutton (Red Hook) connected on all three of his three-point attempts and ended with 11 points. Junior Brian Kirchhoff (Webster) also scored 11 points, hitting 3-of-7 treys, and freshman Quentin Merritt (Brooklyn/Boys and Girls) hauled in six rebounds.
William Heslin (Schaghticoke/Hoosic Valley) led Oneonta with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field. Sean Coffey (New Paltz) scored 12 points on four three-pointers and Kevin Reed (Downsville) finished with seven rebounds and five assists.
The early portion of the game featured a series of alternating runs. Oneonta led 8-0 in the first 3:07, but Cortland responded with 11 straight points, six by Skrelja, to lead 11-8 with 12:49 left. The host Red Dragons answered with an 11-1 run and led 19-12 with 7:19 remaining, but Cortland mounted a 10-0 run over the next 3:29. O'Garrow and Jutton hit three-pointers, Skrelja made a layup and O'Garrow finished the run with a layup with 3:50 left.
Oneonta got back within 22-21 on two MacLean Moore (Sunnyside/Garden School) free throws with 3:02 left in the half, but Cortland closed the half on a 9-2 run, the final four points by junior Frank Ranieri (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse), to lead 31-23 at the break.
The key run in the game came about three minutes into the second half. Oneonta was within 33-29 on two Heslin free throws with 17:31 left before Cortland scored 11 unanswered points. Ranieri hit a layup, Jutton drained a three-pointer, O'Garrow made a layup and Kirchhoff connected from deep. Merritt capped the streak with a free throw at the 14:11 mark.
Cortland led by double-figures until the final seconds of the game. Two O'Garrow free throws with 29 seconds left gave the Red Dragons a 66-54 lead. Oneonta connected on a trio of three-pointers in the final 12 seconds, sandwiched around two Kirchhoff foul shots, to make the final score more respectable.
SUNY Cortland vs SUNY Oneonta 2/8/05 8 p.m. at Oneonta, NY (Dewar Arena) SUNY CORTLAND 68, SUNY ONEONTA 63 SUNY CORTLAND (13-8, 8-4 SUNYAC) O'GARROW, Justin 3-4 7-8 14; SKRELJA, Simon 6-11 0-0 12; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 3-9 2-2 11; JUTTON, Dave 4-6 0-0 11; RANIERI, Frank 2-11 2-2 6; MERRITT, Quentin 2-5 1-2 5; JANKIEWICZ, Michael 2-5 0-0 5; HEADLEY, Rod 0-5 4-6 4; SCHALLER, Mark 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 16-20 68. SUNY ONEONTA (9-12, 5-7 SUNYAC) HESLIN, William 9-13 2-3 22; COFFEY, Sean 4-10 0-0 12; MOORE, MacLean 4-9 2-3 10; NEGREANU, Anthony 3-10 0-0 8; REARDON, Michael 2-3 0-0 5; MURPHY, Jaysen 2-2 0-0 4; REED, Kevin 1-4 0-0 2; WYSOCKI, Josh 0-3 0-0 0; BAROSY, Pierre 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 4-6 63. SUNY Cortland................. 31 37 - 68 SUNY Oneonta.................. 23 40 - 63 3-point goals-SUNY Cortland 8-15 (KIRCHHOFF, Brian 3-7; JUTTON, Dave 3-3; JANKIEWICZ, Michael 1-3; O'GARROW, Justin 1-1; SKRELJA, Simon 0-1), SUNY Oneonta 9-25 (COFFEY, Sean 4-9; NEGREANU, Anthony 2-5; HESLIN, William 2-4; REARDON, Michael 1-2; WYSOCKI, Josh 0-3; BAROSY, Pierre 0-1; MOORE, MacLean 0-1). Fouled out--SUNY Cortland-None, SUNY Oneonta-None. Rebounds-SUNY Cortland 39 (SKRELJA, Simon 8), SUNY Oneonta 30 (REED, Kevin 7; MOORE, MacLean 7). Assists-SUNY Cortland 13 (SKRELJA, Simon 4), SUNY Oneonta 15 (REED, Kevin 5; REARDON, Michael 5). Total fouls-SUNY Cortland 13, SUNY Oneonta 19. A-811