The Geneseo men’s basketball team was able to split its weekend games against SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Potsdam. The team’s win against Potsdam ended the team’s three game losing streak and brought the team to a 9-7 record.
On Friday Jan. 23, the Knights lost against Plattsburgh despite a 13 point and 15 rebound outing from senior forward Gordon Lyons; his fourteenth double-double of the season. The Knights kept the game close in the first half as they were down by five at halftime; however they were unable to overcome their opponent as Plattsburgh outscored the Knights by 12 in the second half, winning 68-51.
The Knights were able to bounce back against Potsdam with a commanding 82-70 win. Lyons recorded another double-double as he scored 20 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Head coach Steve Minton said that he was encouraged by the Potsdam game and that the Knights “finished strong” in the game.
“We opened up the game by doing some simple fundamental stuff. We didn’t turn it over, we finished shots, and we ran our stuff pretty good,” Minton said. “I’m hoping that the guys could take from that we should play a certain way to achieve a certain type of success.”
The Knights are looking forward to their next game against SUNY Brockport. Brockport has a similar record to Geneseo and therefore is a hugely important game heading into the last month of regular season play.
“The game is important for a number of reasons,” Minton said. “One, in terms of conference record, we’re two even teams. But also, say if we finished with a tie with them in terms of placement in the conference tournament, the first thing they will look at is how you did head-to-head.”
Geneseo has not played against Brockport this season so there has not been any precedent for the game. Still, Minton detailed a few more improvements that the Knights could use in order to finish the last half of the season strong.
“One of the things we’re not doing well right now, which has been a mainstay of ours historically, is shooting the ball well,” Minton said. Geneseo has shot 36.5 percent, 30.6 percent and 49 percent against SUNY Cortland, Plattsburgh, and Potsdam respectively.
Minton also said that the Knights have been playing improved defense, but there is still room for improvement.
“Defensively we’re doing some different things this year and they have been pretty good in some situations,” he said. “We do need to put a little more pressure on the ball and try to force teams into some things that they are not comfortable with.”
The Knights welcome Brockport to Geneseo on Friday Jan. 30 before they travel to SUNY Oswego on Tuesday Feb. 3.