The Oswego State men's basketball team scored seven of the game's final nine points to hold on and beat host Oneonta 83-79 in overtime on Saturday afternoon in Alumni Field House. As the Lakers jump back into the win column after a slight trip up at New Paltz on Friday, Oswego improves to 12-5 on the year and, most importantly, 8-2 in the SUNYAC. It was the Lakers second victory over the Red Dragons this season as Oneonta falls to 8-9, 5-5. Oswego beat Oneonta 96-92 at home earlier in the campaign in a double-overtime thriller.
Oswego held the lead for a majority of the game, including all of the second half until an Oneonta layup as time expired forced the game into extra time. The Lakers led by as many as 12 in the contest while the Red Dragons' largest margin was five early in the first half.
In overtime, Oneonta took its first lead at 77-76 since the 10:46 mark of the opening 20 minutes. Oswego facing its first deficit in over 30 minutes of game time, would not let the game slip through its fingers, closing the final 1:20 on a 7-2 run to secure the victory.
The team was led by a pair of 16-point efforts from Kyle Covley and Brian Sortino. One night after Covley, a junior, went over 500 points for his career, Sortino, a sophomore, joined him on Saturday, finishing the contest at 501.
Off the bench, Mark Candelario gave the Lakers a huge boost, recording his third double-double of the year and fifth of his career. The junior tallied 11 points but was even more of an asset on the glass, collecting a career-high 15 boards. Candelario also tied a career-high with five blocks, a mark he set earlier this season.
Matching Candelario's offensive output was classmate Alex Rawa, also scoring 11 on the day. In all, every Laker player who saw action on Saturday recorded a bucket, including a trio of sevens from Walter Sampson, Rashawn Powell and Ian Schupp.
As a team, Oswego held a six-rebound advantage over Oneonta, three more on both the offensive and defensive glass. The Lakers also had five more blocks (8-3), two more points off turnovers (14-12) and four more second-chance points (15-11).
Oswego will be back in action at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday when it hosts Geneseo in Max Ziel Gymnasium.
