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Bears men’s basketball falls in regular season finale

Posted 2/20/11

The SUNY Potsdam men’s basketball team was unable to recover from a first-half lull Saturday, suffering an 81-70 setback at Buffalo State in a State University of New York Athletic Conference …

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Bears men’s basketball falls in regular season finale

Posted

The SUNY Potsdam men’s basketball team was unable to recover from a first-half lull Saturday, suffering an 81-70 setback at Buffalo State in a State University of New York Athletic Conference match-up at Buffalo, N.Y.

The Bears finish the 2010-11 regular season with an 8-17 overall record, including a 7-11 mark in conference play. Potsdam, which finished in a tie for sixth place in the league standings, will be the No. 8 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament and will play at No. 1 Oswego in the quarterfinals this Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The Bengals (18-6, 13-5) made an 11-1 run midway through the first half to turn a 20-19 lead into a 31-20 advantage with 9:39 to play in the period. Buffalo State would extend the margin to 16 before the Bears closed to within 46-36 heading into the locker room.

Potsdam would get as close as five points in the second half, but trailed by double digits for a majority of the frame. The Bears shot just 41 percent in second after a 55.2-percent performance in the first half.

“We executed better offensively in the half court but we turned the ball over in the full court,” Potsdam coach Sherry Dobbs said. “Heading into the playoffs, we definitely need to sharpen up our passing.”

Four players finished in double figure scoring for Potsdam, which grabbed 21 offensive rebounds but allowed 18 offensive rebounds and committed 20 turnovers. The Bengals shot 49.3 percent from the field for the game.

“We battled throughout the game but gave up too many offensive rebounds late in the shot clock,” Dobbs said. “We forced them into some tough shots but didn’t clean up on the glass.”

Senior Anthony Williams (Long Island, N.Y.) finished with a team-high 18 points while freshman Tony Efese (Spring Valley, N.Y.) totaled 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Curtis Pierce (Brooklyn, N.Y.) tallied 14 points and seven rebounds, and freshman Rob Duquette (Peru, N.Y.) chipped in with 14 points.

The Bears were defeated in both games against Oswego this season. Potsdam fell at Oswego 73-60 on Jan. 14 before nearly knocking off the Lakers in a 53-47 home loss on Feb. 12.

Oswego (22-3, 17-1) won the SUNYAC regular season title and is receiving votes in the most recent d3hoops.com Top 25 poll.