Batavia, NY - Onondaga Men's Basketball defeated the No. 11 ranked Genesee Community College last night on the road. After trailing by as much as twenty points, the Lazers showed true grit clawing back to take the winning shot in the final five seconds, defeating the Cougars 85-84.

The Lazers showed heart from the start after getting first on the board thanks to a jumper from Sophomore Brian Whitley followed by a 10-0 run from Genesee. Brooklyn, NY Freshman NyQwan Morris responded with five unanswered points and another bucket from Whitley. Genesee started to take over seven minutes into the first half, outscoring the Lazers 22-4 in the paint, and entering the break leading 51-35. Morris led with nine points and three rebounds in the half.

The Cougars came out to put up four and take their largest lead of the game, 55-35, in the first two minutes of the half. The Lazers slowly started to shorten the lead after back to back buckets from Bishop Grimes' Garang Garang cut it to thirteen with just under sixteen minutes. The Lazers continued to chip away driving to the hoop and going 81.8% from the freethrow line in the second half followed by 9-0 run to cut it to four with just under ten minutes remaining. The Lazers tied it all up 79-79 with 2:25 to go on a freethrow from Morris. Genesee quickly strung together a five-point lead with just forty seven seconds on the clock. Three made freethrows put the Lazers back within one with twenty two seconds remaining. A Lazer timeout gave Head Coach Mike Sugamosto a chance to draw up a play.

Seventeen seconds shed off the clock before the Lazers got a look in the hands of Freshman Nate Johnson, driving to the hoop for a floater, taking their first lead since 2-0. With five seconds remaining, Genesee had their final possession which resulted in a missed baseline jumper, sending the Lazers home with the 85-84 victory.

This is the Lazers' first win over the Genesee program since November of 2021.

"I'm extremely proud of our group for sticking to the plan especially in the second half and fighting back possession by possession. The resilience and mental toughness shown to get a huge road win vs. a nationally ranked team in a hostile environment tells me we have a team ready to play on the biggest stages. 

Some teams would crumble being down by such a large margin. This team is tough and we weren't going to go down without a fight until the end." Mike Sugamosto

Onondaga will host the Lazer Tip-Off Classic this weekend, November 8th and 9th, on the floor of the SRC Arena and take on Kingsborough Community College and Lackawanna College.

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