By: Lucas Vargas
BROCKPORT, NY-- The Brockport Golden Eagles men’s basketball season came to a screeching halt with a 92-89 loss to the SUNY Poly Wildcats. The loss came in the semi-finals of the Empire-8 conference championship tournament. The Golden Eagles were led by sophomore guard Alex Tavarez, who dropped a career-high 31 points and added nine rebounds.
Brockport got off to a hot start, leading 16-6, but the Wildcats began to fight back. Cheickne Toure had a stellar first-half performance for Poly, matching Tavarez’s 15 points and shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the field. The Golden Eagles led at halftime, 48-43.
Much like the last time these teams met, a wild surge in the second half powered the Wildcats. Four of the five Poly starters were responsible for 89 of the 92 total points scored by the Wildcats.
The second half became the Anthony Rose and Kamryn Comstock show. The junior and sophomore forwards dominated on the offensive glass, with Comstock pulling down eight of his 11 total rebounds and Rose grabbing six offensive rebounds and 16 total.
Comstock led the Wildcats in scoring with 25 points, while Rose and Toure each finished with 23. Daimarr Miller also added 18 points.
The Golden Eagles struggled from the free-throw line, missing 11 attempts. Brockport was sent to the line 38 times in the game, compared to just 27 for the Wildcats.
The first lead of the night for the Wildcats came at 11:32 in the second half. Brockport led by as much as 14 points prior in the contest.
Mekhi Beckett had two chances to either take the lead or tie the game for Brockport but missed both three-pointers. Beckett’s confidence never wavered.
“My coaches believed in me, and my teammates believed in me to hit a shot that I always hit, but I just wasn’t able to make it,” Beckett said. “The coaches wanted the ball in my hands to take that shot, and I just wasn’t able to make it.”
The game ended with Beckett’s missed three-pointer, and he was visibly emotional about the loss.
“It’s hard; it’s emotional. A lot of guys I came in with my freshman year, I’m never going to be able to play with them again,” Beckett said. “Knowing that, and knowing that the season is over, it hurts because we saw ourselves winning the championship, but we weren’t able to do that.”
The Poly players waved goodbye to the Brockport faithful, leaving heartbreak and a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth as they prepare to face the Utica Pioneers Saturday at 3 p.m.
“That’s the tough thing with sports: there’s one team that wins and one team that loses,” Clarke said. “For these guys, I’m just heartbroken, and it’s not because we lost, it’s because certain guys’ times are up. Not to say they won’t still be family, but I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye. So, it’s just sad.”
Clarke also reflected on the Golden Eagles' successful first season in the Empire 8.
“I’m super proud. We started 1-7 and could have folded, could have allowed those losses to define our season, but these guys refused,” Clarke said. “They accepted coaching, they accepted really hard coaching, which is tough to do consistently. I’m super proud of them and look forward to the spring and rebuilding this to keep it going.”
It was the final game for seven Golden Eagles, most notably Tony Arnold, Colby Jordan, and Jakhi Lucas.
Brockport finishes with an overall record of 17-10 and a conference record of 14-2, which was enough to claim the Empire 8 regular-season title.
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