The Oswego State men's basketball team completed the season sweep of New Paltz with an 81-52 road victory on Tuesday night at the Hawk Center. With the win, the Lakers improve to 12-4 on the season and 8-1 in the SUNYAC while New Paltz drops to 1-13, 0-8.
Leading by only one point with 12:44 left in the opening stanza, Oswego strung together a 23-5 run over exactly six minutes to take a commanding 32-15 advantage. The lead grew to as many as 20 in the first half, as a Pat Caruso trey in the waning minutes had Oswego doubling-up the Hawks 40-20 at the break. In the second half, it was much as the same, as the Lakers' margin escalated to as many as 31 points with 5:47 remaining in regulation.
On the night, 11 different Lakers scored, with 13 seeing court time. In just 20 minutes of action, Jamir Ferebee led all scorers with 19 points with a nearly perfect night from the field. The junior shot 7-for-9 from the floor, including 5-for-6 from beyond the 3-point line. He also added a game-high three steals, three rebounds and one assist. Aiding in the scoring effort were Caruso and Tyler Pierre, each finishing in double-figures with 10-points apiece.
Senior Mykelle Krecko collected a team-high nine rebounds and was followed closely by classmate Keith Tyson's seven. Junior Josh Ivey chipped in six rebounds, Pierre gathered five while Ferebee, Ian Schupp, Brian Sortino, Brandan Gartland, Matt Crockett and Mark Westbrook each grabbed three boards.
Oswego's defense was crucial in the game, surrendering its least amount of points to an opponent this season. The Lakers held New Paltz to 35.0% shooting from the field and just 18.2% from behind the arc. Part of the defensive success were the aforementioned steals by Ferebee to go along with the rim-protecting prowess of Krecko. The center swatted five Hawk shot attempts and Pierre added another block for a Laker total of six.
Offense was a success story as well, predicated on the squad's unselfish play. Sortino tied for a game-high with six assists while Tyson turned in five. In total, the Lakers racked up 24 assists, with the rest coming from Crockett (3), Schupp (3), Vic Clervil (2), Ferebee (1), Krecko (1), Caruso (1), Ivey (1) and Westbrook (1).
Oswego will continue league action at 2 p.m. on Saturday when it travels to Cortland to face the Red Dragons.
