Mighty Oaks Down Davis College

With a trip to the HVIAC conference playoffs on the line, the Mighty Oaks needed a win and got it as they defeated Davis College, 92-73, in a thrilling match up at the SRC Events Center at Onondaga Community College.

In the first half, both teams came out firing, exchanging baskets for most of the half. The Falcons shot the ball exceedlingly well in the first half and used a run at the end of the half to pull ahead by nine, 46-37. A half-court heave that went in at the buzzer by junior Ryan Caldwell helped bring the Mighty Oaks within six, 46-40, at the half.

At the start of the second half, Davis maintained a seven-point lead, 54-47, with 15 minutes remaining until senior Jacob Ball entered the game. Ball promptly hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to one with 13 minutes remaining. A basket and a free-throw by junior Jared Bard gave the Mighty Oaks the lead 56-54. Ball continued his tremendous shooting, hitting three three-pointers in a row to break open the score 62-56. Ball's hot shooting inspired his teammates as the Mighty Oaks offense continued to roll jumping out to a 71-58 lead with eight minutes remaining. The Mighty Oaks defense prevented any kind of comeback from the Falcons as ESF went on to win 92-73.

"I am extremely proud of this team and their work ethic," said head coach Scott Blair. "We found ourselves down at half time, but we stepped up our defense and executed well on offense. We look forward to participating in our first-ever post season tournament."

Leading the way for ESF was Caldwell with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Tyler Kuhn finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Junior Dan Treadwell contributed 12 points and 10 assists. Ball finished with a career-high 15 points with 5-6 shooting behind the arc. The Mighty Oaks shot 48 percent from the field for the game and out rebounded Davis 46-33.

For Davis College, junior Kevin Davis finished with 17 points and freshman guard Spencer Bath finished with 17 points and six rebounds. Davis falls to 4-19 overall, 3-4 in HVIAC contests.

ESF improves to 4-3 in conference play and 7-13 overall. With the win, the Mighty Oaks secure the fourth and final seed in the HVIAC conference tournament. They will face number-one seed and number-one ranked Berkeley College in a rematch from last week's 97-84 loss to the Knights.