Courtesy of Plattsburgh Sports Information Department
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The No. 16 Plattsburgh State men's basketball team (23-4) secured a spot into the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament after defeating No. 21 Nichols (25-4) 103-86 Friday night inside Memorial Gym.
Junior forward Jonathan Patron (Huntington, N.Y. / Harborfields) led the Cardinals with 21 points and picked up six rebounds.
Senior guard Zack Coleman (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) put up 15 points along with three assists, three blocks, two steals and five rebounds.
Senior guard Eli Bryant (Staten Island, N.Y./Michael J. Petrides School) scored 14 points, added eight assists and five rebounds.
Sophomore guard Nick DeAngelis (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) and senior guard Eric Mack (Roosevelt, N.Y./Baldwin) each had 12 points with Mack adding eight rebounds and four blocks.
Junior forward Ian Howard (Queens, N.Y./Springfield Gardens) picked up a team high of 12 rebounds and had seven points.
Junior guard/forward Chris Middleton (New York, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) recorded nine points and four rebounds while junior guard Brandon Johnson (Greenburgh, N.Y./Woodlands) had eight points and six assists.
The first half was a tug of war with the game being tied five times and the lead changing four times before the Cardinals took and kept the lead.
The Bison kept the Cardinals within arm's reach keeping the advantage under ten points and reeling it back to five by halftime with a score of 51-46.
Plattsburgh State started the second half with a nine point run. Howard made two free throws, DeAngelis had a layup, Patron drained a three and Howard made a layup to take a 14 point edge.
Nichols cut the lead to nine points with 14:27 left in the second half and with 1:51 remaining the Cardinals took their largest lead of 20 points.
The Bison made a layup with 17 seconds left to cut the Cardinals win to 17 points.
Plattsburgh State will square off against Union College Saturday, March 3 at 7 p.m. inside Memorial Hall for the second round of the NCAA DIII Tournament.
Winner will dance off to the Sweet Sixteen.