The Geneseo men’s basketball team is right back in the swing of things as the second semester begins. During the break, the Knights went 1-5 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
After finishing the first semester with a conference loss to SUNY Plattsburgh at home, the Knights went on a four-game road trip. During that trip, the Knights went 0-4 with two close overtime losses to SUNY Fredonia and SUNY New Paltz. Then, right before classes started again, they went 1-1 at home playing against Hamilton College and Fredonia. The Knights snatched a conference win from Fredonia 71-62, while falling to Hamilton 68-43 in a non-conference game.
Junior guard Terrance Nichols recognizes the difficulty of playing so many away games in a short amount of time but is looking forward to the rest of the season taking place mostly at home.
“It’s been tough. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s tough playing all of our first conference games on the road,” Nichols said. “It’s nice having all our road games out of the way now. So, now that people are back for the second semester, it should be a fun time.”
Since classes have started back up, the Knights have gone on a three-game losing streak. It started on Friday Jan. 25, at SUNY Potsdam with an 84-63 loss. The following day, the Knights took a 78-64 loss at SUNY Plattsburgh.
“You know a six-hour bus ride to Plattsburgh, getting off and playing a game is tough, especially with them being a very good team,” junior forward Terence Rogers said.
On Tuesday Jan. 29, the Knights came back home for their first home game of the new semester. They played the Buffalo State Bengals, who sit one place above them in the SUNYAC standings.
Buffalo State has been an offensive powerhouse throughout the season. They sit at number two in the conference with an average of 82.7 points per game.
“Our focus has been getting back on defense, stopping their transition game and just taking care of the ball,” Rogers said.
Nichols and his team, however, were ready for a challenge.
“We’re ready just to prove a statement, to not only the conference, but just to ourselves that we’re still here and we’re still in this,” Nichols said.
Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned for the Knights. Buffalo State defeated the Knights by a score of 91-69. The Knights went down early but showed some good flashes of offense. Buffalo State, however, always had an answer to keep them from coming back into the game. Senior guard Zack Panebianco lead the offense with 22 points along with Nichols who had 18 points in the losing effort.
Hopefully the Knights can keep their heads held high as they continue to push for a playoff spot. Nichols was adamant about one thing—the team takes it game by game, one game at a time.
“If we win at home and take care of business like we should, we shouldn’t have any problems the rest of the way,” Rogers said.
The Knights will play five out of their last seven games at home to finish off the year and conference play. Their next two games will be at home against SUNY Oneonta on Friday Feb. 1 and SUNY New Paltz on Saturday Feb. 2.