POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's basketball team dropped a 98-79 decision to SUNY Potsdam in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action on Tuesday night at Jerry Welsh Gymnasium.
 
Junior guard Travis Cox (Brooklyn, N.Y./Frederick Douglass Academy) led the Cardinals with 21 points, six rebounds, a career-high five assists and a career-high-tying three blocks. Freshman guard Axel Rodriguez (Brooklyn, N.Y./New Paltz) and senior guard Nick DeAngelis (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) also reached double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively. DeAngelis added six rebounds and dished out a career-high-tying four assists.
 
While Plattsburgh State shot 47.6 percent (30-of-63) from the floor and 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from 3-point range, Potsdam knocked down 51.4 percent (36-of-70) of its shots from the field, including a 48.5 percent (16-of-33) mark from distance. The Bears finished with a 38-33 edge in rebounds.
 
Plattsburgh State slips to 4-8 overall (1-4 SUNYAC) with the loss and next visits Buffalo State on Friday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Potsdam rises to 9-3 overall (4-1 SUNYAC) with the win and visits Fredonia next on Friday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m.
 
Potsdam never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 22-7 lead just 7:49 into the game. After the Bears built another 15-point advantage (33-18), the Cardinals scored seven straight points, and a 3-pointer by senior guard/forward Jeremy Eisenman (New York, N.Y./NEST+m) cut the gap to eight. Potsdam's sophomore forward Isaiah Brown ended the run with a 3-pointer, but Rodriguez countered with a trey. Senior guard Danny Delsol-Lowry extended the margin back to 10 points before Eisenman made a layup with 3:12 to go in the first half to pull Plattsburgh State within eight once again (38-30). Potsdam pushed its lead to 15 twice more in the final 1:03 of the stanza and entered the locker room with a 48-33 advantage.
 
DeAngelis knocked down a 3-pointer on the Cardinals' first possession of the second half, and after Brown scored on a layup for the Bears, senior forward Adam Jaquish (Moriah, N.Y./Moriah) converted underneath the basket on the other end of the floor. Plattsburgh State's high-water mark in the stanza came with 11:46 left when DeAngelis trimmed the gap to 64-53 with a trey, but a 9-2 Potsdam surge ultimately gave the Bears the separation they needed to pull out the win.
 
Delsol-Lowry paced Potsdam with 24 points, while Brown added 21. Senior guard Jayquan Thomas scored 18 points in 19 minutes of action, while sophomore guard Isaiah Joseph tallied 13 points coming off the bench. Junior guard Colby Simpson distributed six assists in reserve duty to help ignite the Bears' offense.