Ranieri made 11 of 14 field goals en route to his scoring total, becoming the 17th player in Cortland history to eclipse 1,000 points. Also dishing four assists, the senior now has 1,014 points for his career.
The Cardinals dug themselves an early hole, 12-2 in the opening five minutes, by shooting less than 10 percent from the field while the Red Dragons were at a 60.0 clip after 10 attempts. Cortland led 34-19 at halftime, and finished the game making 51.9 percent from the field to 37.9 for Plattsburgh.
After the deficit grew to 20 points at 42-22 with 18 minutes and 2 seconds left in the game, the Cardinals mounted a comeback that included a 20-4 scoring run over a 6:13 span. Anthony Williams, who led Plattsburgh with 21 points, scored nine points during that stretch to help the team pull within 46-42 at the 10:30 mark. But that was the closest the Cardinals would get the rest of the way.
Jerrad Dumont also notched double figures for Plattsburgh with 12 points, and Travis Gorham hauled in a team-high 11 rebounds.