The Oneonta State men's hoops team opened its 2000 campaign at the Holiday Inn Tip-Off Tournament held here at the College at Oneonta. The Red Dragons faced Hartwick College in their opening game and prevailed 69-57. The Red Dragons shot 52 percent from the field, which put them up against the Baldwin-College Yellow Jackets in the championship game. The Red Dragons started out great but fell to the Yellow Jackets 90-72, allowing B-W to claim the 2000 tournament title. 
        In the first half against Hartwick, both squads battled closely throughout with neither team able to really pull away from the other. Senior co-captain Marcus Stapleton (Brooklyn, NY) led O-State with 9 points in the first as he contributed to a 7-1 run that helped the Red Dragons open a 25-18 lead after the third tie of the half. Oneonta had a 27-19 lead with 6:07 remaining in the half when the Hawks went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 30-28. The half ended with Oneonta on top 32-30.
        In the second half, Oneonta opened up an 11-point lead at 50-39 with just over 11 minutes remaining. Junior center Craig Dawson (Afton, NY) scored seven of his team high 19 during a 14-5 run by the Red Dragons. Hartwick began to battle back and cut the lead to 6 at 61-55 with just 1:37 remaining. Senior Josh Brown (Oneonta, NY) heated up for the Hawks to help them cut into O-State's lead. Oneonta outscored Hartwick 8-3 over the final 1:37 for the victory. Dawson recorded 10 rebounds to go along with his 19 points while sophomore Shaun Bauer (Wallkill, NY) added 18 points as well. Brown led all scorers with 27 points in the loss for the Hawks.
        Against Baldwin-Wallace, Oneonta got out of the gates quickly, leading 11-5 after the opening five minutes. Junior Taylor Calhoun (Davenport, NY) came off of the bench to collect 9 points in the first half as the Red Dragons held a 21-13 lead with just under 10 minutes to go in the opening half. The Yellow Jackets had seen enough and went on a 28-5 scoring frenzy in the final 10 minutes to take a 41-26 lead to the break. Senior Jason Woleben (Mentor, OH) tallied 14 points at the half while classmate Eric Fritz (Bellevue, OH) grabbed 11 rebounds to help in the surge.
        The Yellow Jackets increased their lead over the Red Dragons to 17 in the first five minutes of the second half. A Calhoun basket for O-State at 13:06 cut the B-W lead to 55-45. During the next six minutes the Red Dragons were able to cut the Yellow Jackets lead down to as little as 7 points, but a 16-5 run by B-W put the game away for good. Dawson led O-State with 22 points while Calhoun finished with 13 points and Stapleton finished with 12. Dawson and senior guard John Horton (Bronx, NY) were selected to the All-Tournament team.
        On November 28th the team traveled to Cortland to open their 2000-01 SUNYAC season against their fellow Red Dragons. O-State prevailed rather convincingly 78-61 against the nationally ranked Red Dragons. Oneonta led 33-26 at the break with Dawson scoring 9 points and Horton helping out with 6. Sophomore Ralph Green (New Rochelle, NY) and junior Dave Micha (Binghamton, NY) each grabbed 3 rebounds in the opening half for Oneonta. 
        In the second half O-State went up by as many as 27 points as they cruised to hand 10th ranked Cortland their first loss of the season. Dawson finished the game with 25 points and 7 boards. Horton dished out 4 assists while scoring 10 points. Micha finished the game with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. The Red Dragons shot 53 percent from the field in the victory. 

Women's Basketball (2-1/0-1 SUNYAC)

        The women's hoops team also opened their 2000 season at the Holiday Inn Tip-Off Tournament. The women also faced Hartwick College in their opener and ran away with a 83-58 victory. The win against Hartwick put the Red Dragons in the championship game against Keene State. O-State claimed the championship trophy with a 57-49 win over the Owls. 
        In the Hartwick opener, the Red Dragons stormed out early, hitting 12 of their first 14 shots and jumped out to a 25-8 lead. Oneonta shot 65 percent from the floor and had 3 players in double figures led by senior Paula Polce (Trumansburg, NY) who had 16 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Senior Patty Schroh (Ossining, NY) had 13 points and classmate Kristin Lemon (Endwell, NY) added 11 points on 5 of 5 shooting as Oneonta led 52-21 at the break.
        In the second half O-State continued their great shooting and never let the visitors get any closer than 24 points. Polce finished the game with 24 and a game-high 9 boards to lead the Red Dragons. Lemon finished the game 7 for 7 shooting and 17 points to go along with 6 assists. 
        In the championship game against Keene State Oneonta came out hot for the second straight night, hitting 7 of their first 12 shots to build a 20-5 lead with just over 11 minutes to go in the first half. The Red Dragons built a 24-7 lead before the Owls began to chip away at the lead, closing out the final eight minutes of the half with a 15-7 run to cut their deficit to 31-22 at the half. 
        Oneonta stretched their lead to 13 points at 44-31 with 12 minutes to go in the second half. The Owls refused to go down easily, cutting the lead to just 4 points at 52-48 with 2:15 left. The Red Dragons scored the games final 5 points to ice the game and claim the trophy. Lemon was selected as a member of the all-tournament team, as was Polce, who also claimed the tournament MVP honor.
        The women also opened their 2000 SUNYAC schedule against Cortland. Although shooting 46 percent from the field to Cortland's 43 percent, Oneonta was dealt a 70-61 loss. In the opening half Oneonta shot 50 percent from the floor, led by Schroh who scored 12 points, grabbed 5 boards and had 3 steals. Polce scored 9 points and grabbed 4 rebounds as well. O-State trailed Cortland 36-31 at the end of the first half.
        With just under 8 minutes to go in the second half Oneonta went down by 12 points 55-43. Oneonta State called a timeout and began to chisel away at the Cortland lead. Down 63-59 with 1:34 left, Cortland outscored O-State 7-2 to claim the win. Polce led Oneonta scorers with 29 points and 5 rebounds and Schroh finished with 20 points and 11 boards. Lemon scored 4 points and dished out 13 assists in the loss for Oneonta. 

Wrestling

        The Oneonta State wrestling team hosted their annual Invitational on Saturday the 18th. Western Maryland and Cortland tied with 68 points, but Western Maryland was awarded first place due to the fact that they had six top three finishers to Cortland's five. The rest of the finishers were Scranton (58), Plymouth State (49), NYU (48), Oneonta State (42), Muhlenberg (40), Messiah (28), WPI (27), and Hunter (23).
        At 125 pounds senior co-captain Rubin Prophete (Nyack, NY) finished in second place. At 149 pounds sophomore co-captain Blaire Surgent (St. Leonard, MD) finished in fourth place. At 165 pounds freshman Derek Joines (Oxford, NY) finished in fifth place. At 174, freshman Justin Chandler (Pleasantville, NY) finished in fourth.  At the Heavyweight class, sophomore Jon McDermott (Homer, NY) finished in second place. 

Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving
Women (2-2);  Men (0-4);

        On November 17th and 18th, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed in the North Country Invitational held at SUNY-Potsdam. The men finished in sixth place with 132 total points while the women finished in third with 285 points. 
        Some highlights on the men's side were the 200 Freestyle Relay team, which took seventh place with a time of 1:38.14. Freshman diver Michael Reineke (Campbell Hall, NY) finished sixth in the one meter diving with a final score of 183.45. Freshman A.J. Woroschinski (Monroe, NY) finished 13th in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 54.01. Sophomore Derek Richards (Oneonta, NY) claimed sixth place in the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2:36.75. 
        On the women's side sophomore Samantha Cronk (Poughkeepsie, NY) was a two-event champion in the 100 Breaststroke (1:15.38) and the 200 Breaststroke (2:42.49). The 400 Medley Relay squad took fourth place in a time of 4:32.38. Sophomore Tristan Weaver (Ithaca, NY) took fourth in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:49.59. In the one-meter diving competition, sophomore Chloe Hollocou (Hastings on the Hudson, NY) finished in sixth place with 111.95 total points and junior Randi Levine (Garden City, NY) finished in seventh place with 90.70 points. Sophomore Kathleen Horrace (New Windsor, NY) finished third in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:05.84. The 200 Medley Relay also finished in third place with a time of 2:04.14.