Ivy Leads the Way to the Second Round for Brockport
Sophomore John Ivy (Rochester, NY/East) scored a career-high 25 points as the No. 4 seeded College at Brockport Men’s Basketball team advanced to the second round of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) with an 89-83 victory over No. 5 Buffalo State on Tuesday night. The Golden Eagles will travel to Oswego on Friday night to take on the No. 1 seeded Lakers at 8:00 pm.
The Golden Eagles took advantage of their opportunities from the free-throw line, primarily in the second half. Brockport sank 24 of their 30 attempts in the second half and went 34-43 overall. Ivy hit a career-high 10 free throws on 11 attempts as the sophomore finished with his best scoring night of his career. Brockport limited the Bengals outside shooting to just 26.1 percent (6-23) on the night. Buffalo State entered the game with the second-best three-point percentage in the SUNYAC.
Ivy contributed to Brockport’s 55-point offensive output in the second half by scoring 16 points. Ivy hit two of three shots from behind the arc and three of four for the game. Kyheem Green (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) had another strong performance as the senior produced a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Green also stuffed the stat sheet with five steals, three blocks and three assists. Donnell Jackson (Rochester, NY/Edison) added 15 points and Lance Legister (Staten Island, NY/Millbrook School) chipped in 10 for Brockport.
Brockport jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead as Ivy and Green combined for the teams’ first 13 points. The Golden Eagles built their lead to as large as 12 when Legister hit a rainbow three-pointer from the top of the arc to make the score 23-11 with 9:24 remaining. The Bengals responded with their own 9-0 run and eventually tied the game at 31 on a Jake Simmons (Rochester, NY/School of the Arts) three-point shot. Simmons, the second-leading scorer in the SUNYAC, finished with a game-high 30 points. Buffalo State eventually grabbed the lead before Jordan Major (Rochester, NY/Charlotte) hit a layup with 40 seconds remaining to knot the score at 34 as the teams went into halftime all tied up.
Brockport forced15 Buffalo State turnovers and turned in 14 points off those turnovers in the first half. The Golden Eagles got 18 points from their bench in the first 20 minutes, including Jackson who scored nine points before the break. Ivy, Green, and Jackson combined to hit all 10 free throws for Brockport in the first half.
The second half began similar to the first half as Ivy hit a three-point shot and a layup to score the first five points for Brockport, but the Bengals kept the game interesting. Legister used speed and quickness to draw multiple fouls as he drove to the basket. The freshman hit four consecutive free-throw attempts within a minute to put Brockport up eight, 57-49, with 11:37 to play.
Buffalo State brought the score back to within three until Ivy struck again. Ivy sank two free-throw attempts following a technical foul by the Bengals. Brockport retained possession and Derek Klein (Valley Stream, NY/Long Island Lutheran) found Ivy on the perimeter as he sank another three-point shot to bring the score to 62-54 in favor of Brockport. The Golden Eagles held a double-digit lead with just over six minutes remaining until Simmons started a comeback with a pair of free throws and an and-one play to cut Brockport’s lead back to three with under five minutes on the clock. On the ensuing possession, Klein knocked down a trey to put Brockport back in control. The Golden Eagles knocked down nine of 12 free throws in the final minutes to carry out the victory.
Buffalo State entered the game as the top scoring team in the SUNYAC, averaging 88.1 points per game while the Golden Eagles entered as the second-best scoring team with a 77.0 average. In Brockport's three victories over the Bengals this season, the Golden Eagles have averaged 86.0 points while Buffalo State averaged just 74.3 points. Brockport avenged three losses to Buffalo State during the 2010-2011 season, including the SUNYAC Championship, as head coach Greg Dunne's team swept the Bengals in all three meetings in the 2011-2012 season.
The Golden Eagles will take on Oswego State in the semifinals after the Lakers defeated the eighth-seeded New Paltz Hawks on Tuesday night, 73-62. The Lakers defeated Brockport in both regular season meetings this year and finished the season with an unblemished record of 18-0. In other SUNYAC playoff action from Tuesday night, No. 2 seed Cortland took down Plattsburgh 75-60. The Red Dragons will face No. 3 seed Geneseo after the Knights defeated the Fredonia State Blue Devils 60-49.
