Sweep of Bengals move Devils into 5th place
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men's basketball
(BOX SCORE: Fredonia State 82, Buffalo State 62)
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Fredonia State pulled away for an 82-62 SUNYAC road win Tuesday over Buffalo State.
Brad Cooper (Monticello) paced Fredonia State with 19 points, including 14 in the second half. Scott Valenta (Binghamton) had 15 points and seven rebounds, and Leonard Smith (Brooklyn/Nazareth Regional) scored 11.
Fredonia State had a 48-27 advantage in rebounding and shot 59.4 percent in the second half (19 of 32).
James Tyndal (Brooklyn/Msgr. Scanlon) was the high-scorer for Buffalo State with 17 points. A.J. White (Rochester/Bishop Kearney) netted 13 points, and Jamar Gray (Rochester/Bishop Kearney) had 12. Antonio Speed (Buffalo/East) had eight points and 10 boards.
Fredonia State opened a 12-point lead in the opening period, but a late Bengal rally made the score 35-28 at the intermission. The Blue Devils extended the lead back up to 13 early in the second half, but the Bengals mounted a furious comeback to cut the deficit to 56-54 with just over nine minutes to play. Fredonia State pulled away one last time, however, on the strength of a 15-3 run to put the game out of reach.
The Blue Devils improved to 14-8 and 8-6 in the SUNYAC, tied with the Cortland Red Dragons for fifth place with two home games left -- 8 p.m. Friday vs. Genseo and 4 p.m. Saturday vs. the Red Dragons. The SUNYAC Tournament starts next Tuesday on the home floors of the top four seeds.
In addition, the 14 wins is the most in the tenure of head coach Kevin Moore. His 2002-03 went 13-12, with nine wins in the conference, also the most in his coaching tenure.
The Bengals fell to 13-10 overall and 10-5 in the SUNYAC. They had won three straight before Tuesday and have won nine of their last 11 games, with both losses to the Blue Devils.