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QUINTIN JAMES
Staff Writer
Coming off a win in their last game, the Fredonia men’s basketball team looked to rebound and find their rhythm against Medaille college before starting a two-game home stand to kick off conference play.
Medaille presented the Blue Devils an opportunity to gain momentum before conference play began. This was no easy game by any stretch and it showed, as the Blue Devils were in a tight contest throughout.
Fredonia fell 70-67 in a game that saw the Blue Devils lead for much of the second half before failing to hold it by the end.
Junior forward Ian Helps and senior guard Richard De La Cruz led the Blue Devils with 16 points each. Medaille took the lead with two minutes left and didn’t look back, and great free throw shooting from Medaille was the difference late in the game. After Medaille missed a free throw with three seconds left, Fredonia tried to call a timeout to stop the clock and advance the ball. However, the team was out of timeouts and were given a technical foul that sealed the game.
Fredonia held a 43-31 lead in the rebounding battle with both teams shooting near 43% from the field, but Fredonia didn’t get the right bounces when it mattered and lost a tough game.
Coming off that tough loss, Fredonia had to get ready for their conference opener against rival Potsdam in a front end of a back to back. In front of an eager Fredonia crowd, the home team gave their fans a lot to cheer for in the first half as they held Potsdam to 31% shooting.
They built a 15-point lead in the first half before Potsdam went on a run before the half to close the gap to five after the Blue Devils went the last 4 minutes and 38 seconds without scoring. They would get the lead down to four in the second half before Fredonia went on an 8-0 run to pull ahead for good.
Ian Helps led the way with 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Richard De La Cruz added 12 points, while 11 different players for Fredonia scored in the ballgame.
In the second half of the back to back, the Blue Devils had to be ready to welcome defending SUNYAC regular season champs Plattsburgh State. Fredonia looked like a tired team that played the night before, as they shot a woeful 33% from the field and 22% from behind the three-point line as they were handled easily by their opponent, 75-57.
Ian Helps continued his streak of strong performances as he posted a double-double, 20 points and 10 rebounds and junior guard Nicc Johnson added 12 points and five rebounds, but the offense wasn’t clicking all game.
After falling behind 7-1, Plattsburgh went on a 19-2 lead to take a 20-9 lead and they would never trail again. Trailing by eight at halftime, Fredonia cut the lead down in the beginning of the second half, but a 9-0 run by Plattsburgh ended all hopes for a comeback from the Blue Devils.
Plattsburgh moved to 5-1 and 2-0 in SUNYAC play, while the Blue Devils dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in SUNYAC play.
The Blue Devils will look to bounce back as they travel to Oswego and Cortland next week for two important and tough road conference games.