Trailing 69-65 late in the game, Plattsburgh tied it on layups by Gibbs-Smith and Antwane Miller setting the stage for the last-second heroics. Gibbs-Smith finished with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line, and Miller notched 13.
Potsdam's Damon Brown led all scorers with 24 points, including six 3-pointers, followed by Ernst Ducena with 15 and Edane Barton had 11. Jerry Farrior had a team-high nine rebounds.
Plattsburgh led 36-35 at the break despite shooting only 37.8 percent field goals to a 56.0 clip by the Bears. The Cardinals ended up outscoring the Bears 16 to 5 from the free throw stripe.
Travis Gorham chipped in a game-high 13 rebounds and seven points for the Cardinals, who were led in scoring by Anthony Williams with 23 points.