The Tompkins Cortland men's basketball team dropped its second straight game on Wednesday, losing at Jefferson Community College 68-61. It marks the first time since the first two games of the season back in November that the Panthers have lost consecutive games. Tompkins Cortland is now 7-6 overall and 5-3 in the Mid-State Athletic Conference. Jefferson is 6-10 overall and 2-4 in the MSAC.

A tight game through most of the first half ended with the home team scoring the last seven points to lead 30-25 over the Panthers. The deficit peaked at 12 points in the second half and the Panthers could never fully recover. In the end, a large disparity in free throws (34 taken by Jefferson and 10 taken by Tompkins Cortland) was too much to overcome in a game that otherwise was very evenly contested.

Emond Frazier (Center Moriches/Center Moriches H.S.) finished with a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds. Justin Sykes (Harlem/Lyons Community School) was high scorer with 12 points and 6 rebounds. Logan Nordman (Onondaga/Onondaga H.S.) and Justin Peeples (Wilingboro, N.J./Burlington County Institute of Technology West) each had 11 points in the loss.

Looking ahead

Next up for the Panthers is a Saturday game at SUNY Broome.