FREDONIA, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team (10-3, 5-1 SUNYAC) withstood an early challenge from SUNY Fredonia (4-7, 1-4) before rolling to its fourth straight victory by a score of 78-66 on Friday night. Senior captain Jayquan Thomas (Hollis, N.Y./Richmond Hill) scored a season-high 27 points and sophomore forward Isaiah Brown (Westside Queens, N.Y./NIA Prep) posted his first double-double as a Bear with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
 
The teams traded leads over the first four minutes of the contest. At 15:47, Brown drained a three to give Potsdam a 10-9 lead and they never trailed again. A 17-6 burst put the Bears in the driver's seat. Thomas scored nine during the run, including two three-point plays and a 3-pointer. Junior forward Dante Viskovich (Massena, N.Y./Massena) punctuated the stretch with a three to make it 24-15 at 10:29. The Blue Devils nearly kept pace for the next six minutes, but Brown hit a three at 4:22 to ignite a 10-4 close to the half. Brown scored five of the points as Potsdam finished the opening 20 minutes with a 41-29 lead.
 
Brown opened the second half to put the Bears up by 14 for their biggest lead of the game. Fredonia charged back with a 17-7 run and trailed 50-46 at the 14:40 mark. Potsdam answered with a 6-0 run to extend the advantage back to 10 with a Thomas three and a Brown jumper. Two free throws from freshman forward Ahamadou Sillah (Bronx, N.Y./Kipp NYC College Prep) made it a 63-51 contest with 8:48 to go and the Bears looked like they were about to put Fredonia away for good. The Blue Devils had other plans and 9-1 response closed the gap to four a final time. Fortunately, with clutch shooting from the floor and free-throw line Potsdam kept Fredonia at arm's length and built its lead back to double digits. Sillah sank two final free throws with 39 seconds left and the Bears closed out the 78-66 win.
 
The Bears outrebounded the Blue Devils 38-27 and only turned the ball over nine times.
 
Freshman center Tyrese Baptiste (Brooklyn, N.Y./Eagle Academy II) scored six points and grabbed six rebounds and senior captain Aaron Armstrong (Lisbon, N.Y./Madrid-Waddington) totaled six points and four boards.
 
Moussa Samassa led Fredonia with 19 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Roberts scored 13 points and Dydy Bryan and De'Quan Smith had nine and eight, respectively.
 
The Bears head to Buffalo State tomorrow for a 4 p.m. battle with the Bengals.