The Geneseo men’s basketball team dropped to third place in SUNYAC after falling to SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Plattsburgh on Friday Feb. 8 and Saturday Feb. 9, respectively.
The pair of losses marked a four-game losing streak for the Knights.
With the 84-62 win, the Plattsburgh Cardinals scooted past the Knights to take second place in SUNYAC, while Potsdam stands in eighth place.
Sophomore Gordon Lyons remained a hot hand for the Knights, earning his eighth double-double of the year against Potsdam with 38 points and 16 rebounds combined for the weekend.
Numerous turnovers and rebounds cost the Knights the pair of losses, but head coach Steve Minton said, “While those are problems to address, I don’t think they collectively are the entire reason for our little bit of a slump right now.”
Over the two games, the Knights gave up 39 turnovers. The Cardinals outrebounded Geneseo 43-26.
“The turnovers have been something that has plagued us throughout [and] the rebounding, I hope, is some kind of an anomaly that happened for one game during the weekend,” Minton said.
The loss of junior Thomas Decker, who sat out for the two North Country games due to a shoulder injury, also added some change to the Knights’ game.
“Having [Decker] out of course is a little bit of a problem, but I feel like we’re skilled and talented enough that we can overcome that,” Minton said. “It’s almost not as much of not having [Decker] in the game, as important as he is, as it is now having to have someone else play that position.”
Senior co-captain Marcus Hoy and junior Connor Fedge stepped up to fill Decker’s void. Hoy is recovering from an injury, leaving Fedge with a lot of the responsibility. Minton said he thinks picking up more of a point guard role hurts Fedge’s “productivity” as a slasher and 3-point shooter.
Minton said he hopes to have Decker back in the lineup and, if not, that another player will step in as point guard to allow Fedge to shoot more.
“We’ve beaten both of these teams already once this year, so we have reason to go into those games coming up with a little bit of confidence,” Minton said.
The Knights travel to SUNY Fredonia on Friday Feb. 15 and will host Buffalo State College on Saturday Feb. 16 for the final weekend of regular season play.