TORIN O’BRIEN
Special to The Leader
The high point of the men’s basketball season may have come a week ago, when the team was able to pick up its first SUNYAC victory over Potsdam. The win, however, was short lived, as the Devils came out of this weekend on a four game skid.
Fredonia seemed motivated, to say the least, following their blowout loss against Plattsburgh. Their first of three home games in a row proved entertaining, and they never lost the will to win.
There were two major roadblocks standing in the way of what very well could have been Fredonia’s third victory last Tuesday — the first one being Elmira’s Neil Randolph. The 6’5” forward out of Wicklow, Ireland ended the game with 26 points and six rebounds. Lastly, Elmira shot 44.8 percent from beyond the arc. While the Devils constantly made things interesting in the second half, every attempt was snuffed out by Elmira.
Friday’s game against playoff bound Oswego was close, as well. Freshman Ian Helps led Fredonia with 11 points, but no other Blue Devil was able to break double digits in scoring.
The first half was a back and forth battle of runs, leaving Fredonia down 36-24. While the second half was even in scoring for both teams, the 12 point deficit was too much for Fredonia to overcome. Once again, the Devils’ efforts were thwarted largely in part because of one man. Oswego’s Brian Sortino ended the game with 29 points on 11-17 shooting, as well as three 3-pointers to hold off the Blue Devils.
Saturday’s matchup against Cortland turned out to be too much, and found the Devils whirling. Fredonia would never see a lead, after going down 7-0 early in the game. Fredonia would find themselves down 39-20 at the half. Helps again led Fredonia, and all other scorers, with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Again, no other Blue Devil broke double digits in scoring. Cortland, on the other hand, had 42 points from their bench during the win.
Fredonia fell to 1-13 in the conference (2-18 overall) after the weekend’s games. Their final matchup at home is on Tuesday, Feb. 10, against Brockport.