Morrisville, N.Y.: The SUNY Cobleskill men's basketball team fell short 74-63 in an away matchup with the Mustangs of Morrisville State in North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) action. With the defeat the Fighting Tigers move to 11-5 overall including a 5-2 record in conference play while Mustangs improve to 8-8 overall and 5-2 in conference.

In a NEAC north divisional game, the Tigers had a tough time finding any easy baskets against the Mustangs defense.  Morrisville took charge in the beginning of the game and jumped out to a 9-2 lead with 15:48 to play in the first half.  For the rest of the half, the Mustangs had an answer for any attempted run by the Tigers until the 6:25 mark when the visitors cut the lead to 4 points after a made 3 pointer by senior Antwan Claxton (Bronx, N.Y./ Taft), his basket made it a 22-26 game.  Then the Tigers went cold from the field and the Mustangs caught fire, and by the 2:08 mark Morrisville pushed their lead to 41-25.  The Tigers made a late push and closed out the half down 42-32.

The two sides continued to battle in the second half, but the Mustangs held the Fighting Tigers at bay with timely scores to defuse any run by Cobleskill.  The Tigers continued to push for the win and with 1:18 left in the game junior James Conteh (Queens, N.Y./ Patrick School) hit a tough three to make it 63-69.  The Tigers had a chance to cut the lead to 4 points, but Conteh missed a deep contested three and the Mustangs came down with the rebound and converted on their foul shots to cap the game off. 

For the game, Cobleskill shot a low 33.8 % from the field, including 9 of 34 from three-point range.  Hurting the Tigers all game were key players in foul trouble.  Cobleskill out fouled Morrisville 30 to 13 on the game, and the host took advantage of it by going 33 of 42 from the foul line.

Claxton was a bright spot for the Tigers with 23 points, 7 steals and 5 rebounds while shooting 8 of 13 from the field and 6 of 6 from the charity stripe.  Cobleskill's leading scorer was Conteh with 25 points and he chipped in 4 rebounds for the visitors.          

The Fighting Tigers will return home for their next game when they host Cazenovia College on Wednesday, January 29^th at 5 p.m. in the Iorio Gymnasium.