News Release

UTICA, NY — Jerry Cheves and John Rother each had 12 points to lead the Golden Eagles offensively, but the SUNY Brockport men’s basketball team (13-9; SUNYAC 9-4) dropped an 82-62 decision to SUNYIT (11-10; SUNYAC 8-6) Friday evening.

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Golden Eagles.

The Golden Eagles got off to a quick start, taking a 5-0 lead when Kenny Amparo scored on an offensive rebound, and Chevesfollowed with a three-pointer. The Wildcats responded when Chris Plante hit a pair of three-pointers to seize the lead, 6-5, igniting a 27-6 SUNYIT run, giving the Wildcats a 27-11 advantage with eight minutes left in the half.

SUNYIT maintained their 16 point lead, until a late 8-0 surge by the Golden Eagles trimmed the deficit to 41-31 with 40 seconds until halftime. Cheves and Josh Zenkel hit back to back three-pointers to start the rally, and Ben Bellucci stole an errant pass, and scored on the fast break to pull Brockport to within 10, before JP Adams scored to give the Wildcats a 43-31 lead at the half.

The Golden Eagles continued to build momentum offensively as the second half began, extending their run to 15-2, and pulling to within 43-38 less than two minutes into the second half. Rother and Amparo started Brockport offensively in the second half, hitting back-to-back jumpers, and Cheves drained another three pointer.

SUNYIT answered with a 22-6 run fueled by eight points from Plante, extending their lead to 20 points, 65-44. Brockport managed to pull within 15 points, 70-55, but could come no closer as the Wildcats pulled away for the win.

SUNYIT out rebounded the Golden Eagles 46-27, and held a 20-7 edge on the offensive glass.

Mychal Wilkes dished out a team-best five assists, while Amparo finished with 11 points. Bellucci added 10 points, and needs five more to reach 1,000 points for his career.

Plante paced five SUNYIT players in double figures, scoring 19 points.

The SUNY Brockport men’s basketball team will return to action on Saturday evening, when they travel to SUNY Cortland. Tip-off will be at 8 p.m.

Newspaper Box Score
SUNY Brockport vs SUNYIT
2/10/06 8:00pm at SUNYIT
At SUNYIT
SUNYIT 82, SUNY BROCKPORT 62
SUNY BROCKPORT (9-4, 13-9)
ROTHER, Jon 4-8 4-9 12; CHEVES, Jerry 4-11 0-0 12; AMPARO, Kenny 5-7 0-0 11;
BELLUCCI, Ben 3-9 2-4 10; ZENKEL, Josh 2-4 0-1 6; WILKES, Mychal 1-3 1-2 3;
RUBERTONE, Dan 1-1 0-0 3; KAYS, Eamon 1-4 1-2 3; MACK, Ian 1-2 0-0 2;
HANLON, Jake 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 8-18 62.
SUNYIT (8-6, 11-10)
PLANTE, Chris 5-9 4-4 19; BIEN-AIME, Chantal 6-9 2-2 15; LABOARD, Chris 7-12
0-0 15; GILKES, Antoine 7-13 1-2 15; REAVES, Chris 6-14 1-1 14; ADAMS, J.P.
2-9 0-0 4; BROWN, Chris 0-2 0-0 0; WHALEN, Pat 0-3 0-0 0; BELONE, Elvis 0-1
0-0 0; EDWARDS, Ajani 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-73 8-9 82.
SUNY Brockport................   31   31  -   62
SUNYIT........................   43   39  -   82
3-point goals-SUNY Brockport 10-23 (CHEVES, Jerry 4-9; BELLUCCI, Ben 2-3;
ZENKEL, Josh 2-4; RUBERTONE, Dan 1-1; AMPARO, Kenny 1-1; HANLON, Jake 0-1;
WILKES, Mychal 0-2; ROTHER, Jon 0-2), SUNYIT 8-19 (PLANTE, Chris 5-8;
BIEN-AIME, Chantal 1-3; LABOARD, Chris 1-4; REAVES, Chris 1-3; BELONE, Elvis
0-1). Fouled out--SUNY Brockport-None, SUNYIT-BROWN, Chris. Rebounds-SUNY
Brockport 27 (CHEVES, Jerry 5), SUNYIT 46 (GILKES, Antoine 17). Assists-SUNY
Brockport 11 (WILKES, Mychal 5), SUNYIT 17 (LABOARD, Chris 7). Total
fouls-SUNY Brockport 14, SUNYIT 17. A-100