By Justin Rushia
The Plattsburgh State men’s basketball team (15-12, 11-7) secured its second consecutive playoff berth, marking the first time since the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons.
The Cardinals celebrated their first playoff win since the 2017-2018 season with an exciting victory over the Morrisville Mustangs (13-13, 9-9) in the first round of the SUNYAC tournament on February 25.
This win advanced them to the second round of the tournament, where they faced the New Paltz Hawks.
They were defeated in that match, ending Plattsburgh’s season.
“We stopped here last year. So, that was my one goal: to get past today,” senior forward Ikechuckwu Ezike said. “Yeah, it felt great.”
MORRISVILLE
Plattsburgh had good momentum coming into its first playoff game. The weekend before, the Cardinals won their last two conference games of the season, knocking off the Buffalo State Bengals (8-17, 6-12) and the Fredonia Blue Devils (6-19, 4-14).
Winning these two games allowed Plattsburgh the opportunity to host its first-round matchup.
“We had a great crowd of Cardinal country faithful that came out and supported us tonight,” head coach Mike Blaine said. “They helped keep us engaged when things weren’t clicking as well as we’d like them to.”
Plattsburgh and Morrisville split the conference series during the regular season, with both matches being closely contested. The Cardinals secured the first game with a 91-80 overtime victory on the Mustangs’ home court. However, Plattsburgh lost the second game of the series in another tight contest at home.
“They’re a great team. They run some good actions. They do a great job isolating guys and putting their best players in a position to attack,” Blaine said. “We didn’t do a great job with our matchups against them in our second game when they played up here last time, and our guys took some pride in that.”
The Cardinals set the tone early in the playoff meeting, with senior guard Franklin Infante scoring the first three baskets of the game.
Plattsburgh also played aggressively on the defensive end, tallying three steals and a block in the first three minutes of the game.
Playoff games always ignite a heightened level of intensity, with every player on the court pushing themselves to their limits.
“If you lose, you go home. Nobody wants to go home,” Ezike said. “We all work hard for this. We all want this.”
The Mustangs settled their offense down and scored a few points to keep the game close.
The majority of the first half was filled with back-and-forth play, with the Cardinals maintaining their lead but never being able to pull away from the Mustangs.
Plattsburgh led 28-20 with three minutes remaining in the first half. However, Morrisville went on an 8-0 run, tying the score at 28-28 by halftime.
“I’m a senior. This would have been my last game,” Ezike said. “In the locker room, I let them know that I didn’t want this to be my last game. I know they don’t want it to be their last game. I asked them if they could just, please, come out with some intensity, come out, play defense. And that’s exactly what they did, and I appreciate it all.”
Coming out of halftime, both teams were locked in a tight battle, going back and forth and trading baskets the whole second half. It was a nonstop exchange, with Plattsburgh looking to pull away and Morrisville looking to gain its first lead of the game.
The Cardinals looked like they were pulling away, grabbing a nine-point lead after a Kareem Welch tip-in with 10 minutes left to play,
The Mustangs hung tough and cut the lead to two points with six minutes left to play.
Senior forward Jeremiah Smith extended the Cardinals’ advantage to 65-62 by scoring three consecutive points, followed by a layup that brought the score to 65-62 with 3:02 left on the clock.
Senior guard Kevin Tabb increased the Cardinals’ lead back to five with a layup, but Morrisville quickly responded with a 4-0 run that narrowed the gap to 67-66.
With fewer than five seconds on the clock, the Mustangs intentionally fouled Tabb, who successfully made two crucial free throws, increasing Plattsburgh’s lead to 69-66.
The Mustangs had an opportunity to tie the game, but the Cardinals’ defense held firm as Plattsburgh secured a 69-66 victory.
“You know, people talk, and they could be like, ‘Yeah, when that moment comes, I’m gonna be ready.’ You’re never ready until the moment comes,” Ezike said. “I think whoever’s around you affects how you act. So just everybody stayin’ calm in the face of danger just helps keep the mentality.”
Infante led Plattsburgh in scoring, racking up 21 points, as well as grabbing seven rebounds.
Plattsburgh finished the game with 14 steals and 11 blocks as a team.
Infante and Welch both achieved the milestone of scoring their 1,000th career points.
Plattsburgh’s next challenge: a game against the first-seeded New Paltz Hawks.
NEW PALTZ
While Plattsburgh held the lower seed coming into this matchup, the Cardinals swept the first-seeded Hawks in the regular season.
The Cardinals couldn’t get the job done the third time, falling to the Hawks 74-72.
“Our guys were motivated to win the SUNYAC championship, so any time that you fall short of your ultimate goal it will leave a disappointing taste in your mouth,” Blaine wrote. “However, we certainly made some strides this year as our overall win total increased from last season, and we advanced to the semifinals of the SUNYAC tournament, which we were unable to do last year.”
Plattsburgh carried its highly intense defensive game plan to New Paltz. Ezike recorded a block within the first fourteen seconds of the game.
Tabb scored the opening basket of the game, quickly followed by a layup from Sean St. Lucia. Plattsburgh then surged ahead with a 5-0 run, momentarily taking a 7-6 lead at the 15:21 mark.
The lead changed hands five times before Plattsburgh gained an advantage with back-to-back three-pointers from Welch and Smith, pushing the score to 18-13 at the 12:55 mark.
New Paltz responded with five consecutive points, narrowing the gap to one point, but Smith countered with four straight points, extending the Cardinals’ lead to 25-20 with less than nine minutes left in the half.
Plattsburgh then went on a 10-0 run, sparked by Welch, bringing the score to 37-29 with just over five minutes remaining.
Tabb added another three-pointer, increasing the Cardinals’ lead to as much as nine points. However, New Paltz finished the half strong, ending with a 7-0 run, tying the game at 41-41.
The second half of the game was just as intense as the first, with both teams trading baskets in a closely contested matchup. New Paltz opened the half with four straight points, but Plattsburgh quickly countered with five points of their own, taking a 46-45 lead.
New Paltz responded with back-to-back layups to regain the lead, but Plattsburgh then went on an 8-0 run, led by Ezike and Infante, to take a 54-49 lead at the 13:29 mark.
New Paltz rallied again with their own 8-0 run, making the score 57-54 midway through the second half. The teams continued to battle, responding to each other’s runs, and Plattsburgh led 65-63 with less than five minutes remaining after baskets from Infante and Tabb.
With under three minutes left, Plattsburgh held a 72-68 advantage, but a layup from Smith, along with a foul, allowed New Paltz to take a 74-72 lead with less than 20 seconds to go.
“We were trying to figure out the best way to tie the game in a short window of time. Our guys did a good job understanding the situation and acted with pace and purpose down the stretch,” Blaine wrote.
Plattsburgh had two opportunities to tie the game but made a turnover, followed by a shot that appeared to tie it. However, that shot was ultimately disallowed due to the expiration of time. This allowed New Paltz to hold on for the win, ending the game at 74-72 over Plattsburgh.
“I was most disappointed in how the decision was handled,” Blaine wrote. “I understand that last-second plays can be a challenge to adjudicate. A lot is happening in a short window. My frustration lies predominantly with the fact that no explanation was given for why the call that was made during the run of play was overturned without clear video replay to point to for evidence.”
Plattsburgh finishes its season with a record of 15-12 and will graduate seven seniors: forward Orlando Dawkins, Ezike, forward Ladan Graves, Infante, guard Matt Kone-Bradshaw, Smith, and Tabb.
“Our returning players got a good sense of what it takes to compete at the highest level of the conference. They are hungry to build on this experience and begin to attack the 25-26 season,” Blaine wrote.
