Junior Kyheem Green (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) hit a layup with less than two minutes to play to give The College at Brockport men's basketball team a 69-66 lead, and the Golden Eagles held on to post a 74-70 win over Oswego in the semifinals of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament Friday night in Oswego.

Green finished with a team-leading 22 points as the fourth-seeded Golden Eagles (15-12) advanced into the SUNYAC championship game, where they will meet second-seed Buffalo State (20-6) at 4 pm Saturday in Oswego.

It will be Brockport's eighth appearance in the SUNYAC title game, and second in three years. Brockport is searching for its fifth SUNYAC championship, and first since the 2008-09 season, when the Golden Eagles knocked off Fredonia 64-59.

Against Oswego Friday night, junior Gerald Williams (Rochester, NY/Charlotte) scored 14 points while senior Zach McTigue (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) and sophomore Stephen Sisson (Ballston Spa, NY/Saratoga Springs) each added 12 points for the Golden Eagles.

Brockport hit 57.1 percent of its shots (28 of 49), led by Green (10 of 17), Williams (5 of 9) and Sisson (4 of 4, all on three-pointers). Sophomore Derek Klein (Valley Stream, NY/Long Island Lutheran) added seven assists for the Golden Eagles, who avenged two regular-season losses to the Lakers (23-4).

Sisson's fourth 3-pointer of the game gave Brockport a 65-60 lead with 4:27 remaining and McTigue connected on two free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory for Brockport.  

In the first half, Green made four key baskets in the paint and Sisson came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers to lead Brockport. Williams and McTigue added six points each but the story of the half was freshman Jon Ivy (Rochester, NY/East), who was held scoreless after picking up two early fouls and spending the majority of the first half on the Brockport bench.

Oswego jumped out to an early 9-4 lead but the Golden Eagles responded with a 15-3 run to take the lead and held that lead for most of the first half. A 3-pointer by Oswego's Chad Burridge tied the game at 27-27 but Brockport scored seven of the final 10 points of the half to take a 34-30 lead into the halftime intermission.

In the second half, the teams traded baskets early on, and the Lakers took a 39-38 lead with 17:11 remaining before Green made a three-point play to put Brockport up 41-39.

Williams then drained a '3', McTigue hit a layup and Green added layups on consecutive possessions to stake the Golden Eagles to a 50-48 lead with 12:25 remaining.

That's when Ivy came alive. The freshman guard scored all nine of his points during the game's final 11:17, and made five of six free throws in the last 5:18 to clinch the win.

Williams' final '3' pushed the Brockport lead to 55-49 with 10:41 remaining, but the Lakers answered back with a 6-0 run to reclaim the edge, 56-55. Green responded with a '3' on his only attempt of the night to put Brockport up 58-56, and the Golden Eagles made seven of eight free throws late to finish off Oswego.

Brockport, making its 12th straight tournament appearance, sports a 26-16 record all-time in the SUNYAC tournament, including a 4-3 mark in the finals. The Golden Eagles have won SUNYAC championships in 1994, 2001, 2002 and 2009.

 

Buffalo State has won a SUNYAC-most 11 conference championships, but the Bengals haven't cut down the nets since the 2002-03 season. Buffalo State won SUNYAC's five consecutive years from 1987-88 through 1991-92, then followed that run with a three-year championship run from 1994-95 through 1996-97.

 

Brockport ousted Buffalo State from last year's SUNYAC tournament, a 68-67 overtime win in the first round. The Golden Eagles and Buffalo State have squared off just three times in SUNYAC postseason play, with Brockport prevailing last year and during the 1993-94 semifinals, when the Golden Eagles claimed the championship.

 

Buffalo State's only postseason win over Brockport came during the 1990-91 quarterfinals.