It had been two years since the Brockport Golden Eagles men’s basketball team saw a postseason victory. On Saturday, they had to wait no more, defeating SUNY Geneseo 87-66 in the Empire 8 quarterfinals.
The Golden Eagles entered the Empire 8 conference tournament as the No. 1 seed and regular season champions. Brockport faced off against Geneseo earlier in the week, beating the Knights 87-73 to close out the regular season.
Junior Zachary Rice led the way for Brockport. Rice had 22 points, a team-high, spearheading the offense for Brockport. For Geneseo, Trevor Hofer was the main man with 13 points at halftime.
A very competitive first half saw both teams going back and forth, but the Golden Eagles held strong and went into the locker room with a 41-36 lead.
To open the second half, it was an intense back-and-forth sequence that saw both teams miss a total of three shots within the first three minutes. The tides would turn for Brockport when, with 15:41 left, senior point guard Tony Arnold lit a fire on the court.
Arnold had five points to start the half, but on the Golden Eagles’ 11-0 run over the course of three minutes, Arnold recorded four steals and added seven more points. Arnold got the spark he needed from two of his teammates.
“Jakhi Lucas and Mekhi Beckett, when I was on the bench to start the half, they were like, ‘We need an aggressive half from you,’” Arnold said. “They said, ‘Stay aggressive when you get in.’ With two fouls, it’s easy to back off and not play as aggressive. But it was just them, saying, ‘Stay aggressive.’ I know with this deep team, we’re liable to pull away at any moment. So just staying aggressive, when I make plays and affect the game how I want, it just brings energy to our team. I was happy I was able to do that tonight.”
Brockport head coach Joe Clarke enjoyed what he saw from his senior guard.
“He was the guy that started the response and made the change,” Clarke said. “He was very disciplined in doing so. Anytime a fourth- or fifth-year senior does that, you’re super happy, especially when you see the results, and he did that. Other guys responded and played to his energy.”
Brockport had four players in double figures: Rice, Arnold, Beckett with 16 and sophomore Alex Tavarez with 11.
With Brockport only holding a five-point lead at halftime, Clarke put one of his best players to the test at halftime, expecting more from Rice.
“I actually singled him out at halftime and challenged him,” Clarke said. “I thought he was kind of loafing around, jogging too much in the first half, and again, a third-year guy responded and made the change. When those guys do the simple things—playing harder, running, having a little more focus and attention to detail—good things happen.”
Arnold knows what the expectations are moving forward to the semifinals.
“We’re the No. 1 seed coming into it. We knew that, and coach just said, ‘Play like it, act like it, play like it,’” Arnold said. “It’s very tough to beat teams three times in a row, but that’s what No. 1 seeds do. They take care of home-court advantage, and that’s all we did tonight. We weren’t really too focused on someone else. Just like I said in other interviews, we like to just say it’s about us.”
Brockport moves on to the semifinals of the Empire 8 Championship Tournament. They face off against the No. 4 seed SUNY Poly Wildcats Wednesday, Feb. 26. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
