POTSDAM, N.Y. --- The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team (13-3, 8-1 SUNYAC) pulled away from SUNY Cortland (10-5, 4-4 SUNYAC) midway through the second half for an 83-73 win on Saturday night. Sophomore forward Isaiah Brown (Westside Queens, N.Y./Nia Prep) notched a career-high 35 points and 12 rebounds. Brown also set a personal best in 3-pointers with five. Senior captain Jayquan Thomas (Hollis, N.Y./Richmond Hill) became the second Bear in as many days to reach 1,000 points for his career and he finished with 17 on the night.

Cortland scored the first five points of the contest with a jumper from sophomore forward Austin Grunder (Trumansburg, N.Y./Charles O. Dickerson) and a three from senior guard Brendan Fitzpatrick (Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK). At the 18:18 mark, freshman center Tyrese Baptiste (Brooklyn, N.Y./Eagle Academy II) got the Bears on the scoreboard with a layup, which started a 14-4 run. The run ended with a fast break layup from Thomas after a steal and Potsdam led 14-9 at 13:42. The Red Dragons countered with six unanswered points to retake the lead at the 11:25 mark. The teams would then trade leads until the 2:21 mark, when Brown put Potsdam up for good by hitting all of his foul shots after being roughed up behind the arc. Potsdam outscored Cortland 9-4 the rest of the way to take the 39-33 halftime lead.

To start the second half, senior forward Ryan Schmadel (Oriskany, N.Y./Oriskany) came away with a steal and 3-pointer within the first minute to get Cortland back within three. The teams battled back and forth for the first eight minutes of the second half. The Bears began to pull away halfway through the final 20 minutes. A 3-pointer from senior captain Aaron Armstrong (Lisbon, N.Y./Madrid-Waddington) at the 10:04 mark gave Potsdam its largest lead of the evening at 16. A 14-6 run by Cortland starting at the 9:29 mark got them back within single digits. The run was capped off by a fast break layup from Grunder with a little under five minutes to go. The Red Dragons would not be able to get closer for the remainder of the game as the Bears continued to find an answer. Brown scored nine points in the final four minutes and his dunk with 17 seconds left added the exclamation point and sealed the 83-73 win.

Baptiste recorded his ninth double-double in 16 career games with 13 points and 12 rebounds, to go along with three rejections. Armstrong chipped in with his eight points and eight boards.

Schmadel led the Red Dragons with 20 points. Grunder scored 17 and grabbed six rebounds for the Red Dragons, while junior forward Eric Edwards (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton) and Fitzpatrick tallied 13 and 12, respectively.

Potsdam shot 44-percent from the floor, while Cortland shot 39-percent. The Bears also outrebounded the Red Dragons by a 53-35 margin.

Potsdam is back on the road next Friday against Brockport at 7:30 p.m. The Bears then head to Geneseo the following afternoon for a 4 p.m. contest.