The game was tied 10 times, the last with 34 seconds left when Buffalo State’s Charles Hepburn (Rochester/Greece Arcadia) hit a pull-up jumper in the lane for the final two of his team-high 17 points. Following a timeout with 22 seconds left, Cortland got the ball to Ranieri on the right side. As he made his move, his defender slipped. Ranieri turned and banked in a shot from about 10 feet away to give Cortland the lead. Buffalo State raced the ball downcourt, but Ranieri stole the ball from Hepburn to end the game.
Cortland held its largest lead at 50-45 with 14:15 left on a Dave Maggiacomo (Pleasant Valley/Arlington) three-pointer. Maggiacomo finished with a career-high 24 points, 13 in the second half, and made 5-of-10 three-pointers. The Bengals came back and scored the next eight points to take a 53-50 lead with 12 minutes remaining. They led by three on six more occasions, the final time at 71-68 with three minutes left on a Lester McNair (Ithaca) three-pointer.
Senior Scott Taggart’s (Sidney Center/Franklin) layup after rebounding a Maggiacomo missed trey brought Cortland back to within 71-70, and his two free throws at the 1:50 mark gave the Red Dragons the lead. Buffalo State missed three shots, including two three-pointers, on its next possession. Taggart finally secured the rebound and junior Rod Headley (Peekskill) was fouled with 48 seconds left. He made the second of two free throws to extend Cortland’s lead to 73-71 and set up the game’s final drama.
Taggart finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He made 7-of-10 shots from the floor and all four of his free throws. Headley scored 12 points and handed out four assists, Ranieri ended with 11 points and senior Simon Skrelja (Hastings-on-Hudson/Hastings) recorded 12 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Cortland, which entered the game shooting 66 percent from the foul line for the season, made 76 percent (19-of-25) of its attempts from the line.
Hepburn was one of four Buffalo State players to score in double figures. McNair tallied 13 points and Carlton Guiden (Bronx/Wade Hampton) and Gregg Jones (Syracuse/Nottingham) each netted 11 points. Dante Griggs (Bronx/Chester Academy) led the Bengals with 10 rebounds.
Buffalo State vs SUNY Cortland 1/28/06 8 p.m. at Cortland, NY (Corey Gym) SUNY CORTLAND 75, BUFFALO STATE 73 BUFFALO STATE (9-9, 3-6 SUNYAC) HEPBURN, Charles 6-12 3-5 17; McNAIR, Lester 3-7 5-6 13; GUIDEN, Carlton 3-5 3-4 11; JONES, Gregg 5-15 1-3 11; TIRADO, Jobany 4-4 0-0 8; MOZELLE, Dion 3-8 1-3 7; GRIGGS, Dante 2-7 2-2 6; LANGLEY, Joe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-58 15-23 73. SUNY CORTLAND (17-2, 9-1 SUNYAC) MAGGIACOMO, Dave 8-13 3-5 24; TAGGART, Scott 7-10 4-4 18; HEADLEY, Rod 4-9 4-6 12; RANIERI, Frank 4-10 3-4 11; MIOLAN, Juan 2-3 0-0 5; SKRELJA, Simon 0-4 4-4 4; SCHALLER, Mark 0-2 1-2 1; FISH, Derrick 0-0 0-0 0; JUTTON, Dave 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 25-55 19-25 75. Buffalo State................. 36 37 - 73 SUNY Cortland................. 36 39 - 75 3-point goals-Buffalo State 6-18 (McNAIR, Lester 2-4; GUIDEN, Carlton 2-3; HEPBURN, Charles 2-5; JONES, Gregg 0-6), SUNY Cortland 6-17 (MAGGIACOMO, Dave 5-10; MIOLAN, Juan 1-2; RANIERI, Frank 0-1; SCHALLER, Mark 0-1; JUTTON, Dave 0-3). Fouled out--Buffalo State-MOZELLE, Dion, SUNY Cortland-None. Rebounds-Buffalo State 32 (GRIGGS, Dante 10), SUNY Cortland 36 (SKRELJA, Simon 12). Assists-Buffalo State 13 (GUIDEN, Carlton 4), SUNY Cortland 15 (HEADLEY, Rod 4; SKRELJA, Simon 4). Total fouls-Buffalo State 22, SUNY Cortland 18. A-700