By Justin Rushia
With only four games left in the SUNYAC regular season, the Plattsburgh State men’s basketball team (11-10, 8-6) is on the verge of securing a playoff spot for the second consecutive season. The last time the Cardinals made back-to-back playoff appearances was during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons.
After spending about a month away on winter break, the Cardinals returned eager and dissatisfied with how they left off before the break after a buzzer-beater loss to the Cortland Red Dragons (12-9, 11-3).
Plattsburgh resumed its season with a non-conference game against VTSU Johnson (7-16, 4-7). The Cards took care of business and started the second half of its season with a convincing 97-72 victory.
“You know, we didn’t feel great about how we finished up the last game of the fall semester,” head coach Mike Blaine said. “We came out sharp against Vermont State, Johnson in the opener.
Winter break is a unique time for all winter athletes. While most of their peers spend this period at home enjoying time with friends and family, athletes return almost a month earlier than everyone else. Their only focus when they return: competing.
“There’s no school, and there’s nobody here. It’s kind of just us. So it’s more bonded. It’s great,” senior forward Ikechukwu Ezike said. “It was just basketball; we didn’t have to worry about anything else.”
After its home match against VTSU Johnson, Plattsburgh traveled to Western New York to resume conference play with back-to-back games against Fredonia (6-16, 4-11) and Buffalo St. (7-15, 5-10), where they lost in two close games.
The Cardinals came back the following week ready to make a statement in the conference.
Plattsburgh went on a five-game win streak that expanded over two weeks of play, beating Potsdam (4-17, 4-10), Canton (3-18, 3-11), Oswego (14-7, 10-4), Oneonta (14-8, 9-6) and New Paltz (15-7, 11-4).
“Obviously, we had had a couple of hiccups on the trip out to Western New York, but, after that, we really zeroed in and got ourselves to be much more consistent, and much more in sync with each other,” Blaine said.
As the spring semester approached, the Cardinals gained momentum, positioning themselves for a strong push toward the SUNYAC playoffs.
Plattsburgh struggled to maintain consistency in the following weeks. They went 2-3 in their next five games. However, the quality of their two victories showed glimpses of a potential championship contender.
The Cardinals’ winning streak ended against the same team it began with, Potsdam, where they narrowly lost 75-77 at home.
Plattsburgh’s next test: a home game against Cortland, whom the Cardinals hadn’t beaten since 2020. Plattsburgh snapped their nine-game losing streak against the Red Dragons with a final score of 70-68.
Junior guard Kareem Welch and first-year student Nate Pondexter Jr. led the way for Plattsburgh, with Welch scoring 17 points on 62% shooting and Pondexter Jr. scoring 14 points on 67% from the field.
“Obviously, they’re at the top of the conference right now, but we showed that if we can stick with it and stay together, we can right our own ship,” Blaine said. “It was a boost to the confidence, certainly, but I think what it really is, rather than just looking myopically against Cortland — it was a bigger picture opportunity for us because we didn’t play very well in the first half, and we dug ourselves a sizable hole against one of the best teams in the conference,” Blaine said.
Senior guard/forward Jeremiah Smith looks around a Hawk defender Jan. 25.
The next day, Plattsburgh fell to Morrisville (11-10, 7-7) 80-86.
The Cardinals continued their lose-win pattern, defeating New Paltz 81-57 before losing a close game to Oneonta 78-82.
“We’re never really out of any games,” Blaine said. “We’ve had some tough losses on the court. I’m not going to downplay that, but really, what it showed us is that we should never get too low, because we’ve got an opportunity to bring ourselves back into it if we can right the ship quickly and often.”
The top six teams in the conference qualify for the SUNYAC playoffs. The first two seeds receive a first-round bye and earn the opportunity to host a semifinal game. Meanwhile, the third and fourth seeds will host a first-round matchup.
Plattsburgh is currently sitting at the fifth seed, with Cortland, New Paltz, Oswego, and Oneonta ahead of them in that order.
“I know it might sound cliche, but we’ve had teams at the bottom of the conference beat teams at the top of the conference, and everything and everyone in between,” Blaine said.
With four games left to play, Plattsburgh still has the opportunity to climb the standings and potentially host a playoff game.
“Hosting a game is very important,” senior forward Jeremiah Smith said. “It’ll be the first one in a while, and we want to do something special with this team.”
Plattsburgh will continue its push to the playoffs, looking to complete its conference sweep against Oswego today at 7:30 p.m.
“We can only afford to look at the game in front of us. And right now, we’re looking at trying to go out to Oswego on Friday night,” Blaine said.
