Cobleskill, N.Y.: With the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) play-off race heating up, the SUNY Cobleskill men's basketball team took a high scoring affair from the visiting Wildcats of SUNY Polytechnic Institute by an 89-81 margin at the Iorio Gymnasium on Wednesday evening. With the victory the Fighting Tigers improve to 11-4 overall including a 5-1 mark in conference play while the Wildcats are now7-7 overall with a 4-2 conference record. Both team entered the contest tied for first place in the NEAC North Division.

The Fighting Tigers jumped out quickly to a 46-33 halftime advantage over the visiting Wildcats as the Cobleskill offense started out hot connecting on an impressive 18-32 shots from the field, 56.3%, including 6-of-12, 50.0%, from beyond the three-point line while turning six SUNY Polytechnic turnovers into seven points in the stanza. Senior swingman Antwan Claxton, Bronx, N.Y., Taft High School, did the bulk of the individual damage during the half with 22 points and six rebounds in the half for the home team.

In the second half, the Wildcats used their size advantage to pound the paint to finish with 44 inside points on the evening. However in the second half junior swingman James Conteh, Queens, N.Y., The Patrick School/SUNY Sullivan, meet the Wildcat offensive head on for Cobleskill with 21 points and four rebounds to turn back the visitors.

On the evening, Conteh finished as the game's high scorer with 32 points to go with six rebounds while Antwan Claxton finished with a double/double with 29 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals on the night. The Fighting Tigers also received strong play from senior point guard Daniel Owens, Albany, N.Y., Christian Brothers Academy/Herkimer Community College, who scored nine points to go with 11 assists on the evening,

Cobleskill will next be in action on Saturday January 25^th when they travel to Morrisville, N.Y. for a NEAC meeting with the Mustangs of Morrisville State with tip-off slated for 2:00 p.m.