The sixth-seeded Thoroughbreds (16-9) will face either RIT or Brockport in the semifinals on Friday at a site to be announced. The championship game will be on Saturday at the same site as the semifinals. Cortland finishes the season with an 18-10 mark. The Red Dragons have lost at home to Skidmore in the ECAC quarterfinals each of the last two years.
Gallagher made5-of-9 three-pointers in the contest. Martin finished with six rebounds and three assists and junior Cortlandt Toczylowski (South Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) added 13 points and seven rebounds. Senior Steve Yaeger (Saranac) scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and senior Michael Murray (Hillsdale, NJ/Bergen Catholic) registered 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Cortland was led by sophomore Dave Jutton's (Red Hook) 19 points. Junior Frank Ranieri (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists and junior Simon Skrelja (Hastings-on-Hudson/Hastings) added 10 points, a game-high 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. Junior Brian Kirchhoff (Webster) scored nine points and freshman Derrick Fish (Locust Valley) chipped in a career-best six points and matched his career high with four assists.
Cortland erased an early nine-point deficit and led 37-33 at halftime. The Red Dragons led 63-54 on a Skrelja layup with 6:30 left, but Skidmore responded with an 11-2 run to tie the game at 65-65 with 4:40 left. Cortland led 72-66 with 2:57 left, but the Thoroughbreds fought back again and eventually tied the game on a free throw by Toczylowski with 11 seconds left. Cortland missed a jumper at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
In the extra session, neither team scored for nearly two minutes until Gallagher hit a three-pointer with 3:09 left. That gave Skidmore its first lead since late in the first half. Another Gallagher trey with 2:18 left upped Skidmore's lead to 80-76.
Cortland pulled within 81-80 on a Kirchhoff three-pointer with 39 seconds left that hit the rim, bounced high and fell through. Toczylowski made one of two free throws with 27 seconds left to push the lead to two. Jutton was fouled on a drive with 14.9 seconds remaining and made the first free throw. His second attempt missed, but Ranieri grabbed the offensive rebound. The ball was worked across court to Kirchhoff, whose three-pointer from the right wing with 10 seconds left just missed the mark.
Martin grabbed the rebound, was fouled and sank two free throws with 8.3 seconds left to give Skidmore a three-point lead. Jutton's three-pointer from the top of the key was off target in the final seconds, with Yaeger grabbing the rebound as the clock expired.
ECAC Div. III Upstate NY Quarterfinals Skidmore College vs SUNY Cortland 3/2/05 7 p.m. at Cortland, NY (Corey Gym) SKIDMORE COLLEGE 84, SUNY CORTLAND 81 (OT) SKIDMORE COLLEGE (16-9) Greg Gallagher 6-10 0-0 17; Dana Martin 4-10 8-12 17; Cortlandt Toczlowski 4-9 3-6 13; Michael Murray 4-12 0-0 11; Steve Yaeger 5-9 1-1 11; Fran Murray 3-5 0-0 7; J.P. Corry 3-8 0-1 6; J.Haviland-Markowitz 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-64 12-20 84. SUNY CORTLAND (18-10) JUTTON, Dave 4-11 8-9 19; RANIERI, Frank 6-11 3-4 15; SKRELJA, Simon 3-8 4-4 10; KIRCHHOFF, Brian 3-12 0-0 9; O'GARROW, Justin 3-6 0-0 8; JANKIEWICZ, Michael 3-8 0-0 7; FISH, Derrick 3-3 0-0 6; MAGGIACOMO, Dave 2-3 0-0 5; HEADLEY, Rod 1-7 0-0 2; SARGENT, Joe 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-70 15-17 81. Skidmore College.............. 33 41 10 - 84 SUNY Cortland................. 37 37 7 - 81 3-point goals-Skidmore College 12-31 (Greg Gallagher 5-9; Michael Murray 3-10; Cortlandt Toczlowski 2-3; Fran Murray 1-1; Dana Martin 1-4; J.P. Corry 0-4), SUNY Cortland 10-32 (KIRCHHOFF, Brian 3-12; JUTTON, Dave 3-10; O'GARROW, Justin 2-3; JANKIEWICZ, Michael 1-4; MAGGIACOMO, Dave 1-2; SKRELJA, Simon 0-1). Fouled out--Skidmore College-Fran Murray, SUNY Cortland-None. Rebounds-Skidmore College 42 (Steve Yaeger 10), SUNY Cortland 39 (SKRELJA, Simon 12). Assists-Skidmore College 18 (Michael Murray 7), SUNY Cortland 17 (RANIERI, Frank 4; FISH, Derrick 4). Total fouls-Skidmore College 16, SUNY Cortland 18. A-150 ECAC Div. III Upstate New York Tournament - Quarterfinal Round. Skidmore will face either Brockport or RIT in the semifinals Friday at a site to be announced. Finals are Saturday at same site as semifinals.