The Panthers men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, coming up just short in an 82-81 loss to Genesee Community College. Tompkins Cortland is now 3-1 overall and in the Mid-State Athletic Conference. Genesee improves to 3-3 overall and 3-1 in the MSAC.

In the first three games of the season, the Panthers never trailed and won each game comfortably. On Saturday, Genesee scored the first basket, and even though the Panthers responded with 12 straight points to take the early lead, the game was close the entire way. The initial surge gave the Panthers a ten-point lead, which led to a 45-34 advantage at the half. The margin peaked at 16 points early in the second half, but Genesee quickly closed the gap and made things tight for most of the second half.

From a 50-34 score less than two minutes into the second half, Genesee went on an 18-2 run to tie the score at 52-52 with 13 minutes left in the game. The Panthers responded with an 11-3 run to regain an eight-point lead at 63-55. The spread was still eight points with eight minutes to play, but Genesee went on a 9-2 run to make it a one-point game with six minutes left. The Cougars regained the lead at 72-71 with 4:40 left, but the Panthers came back to knot the game up at 74-74 with 3:55 left. Seven straight points for the Cougars gave the visitors their biggest lead of the game, 81-74, with 2:26 left to play.

A late run gave the Panthers a chance in the final minute. A steal and layup by Khai Pugh (Syracuse/Nottingham H.S.) brought the Panthers within one at 82-81 with 35 second left. A defensive stop gave the Panthers a final possession with eight seconds left, but the home team was unable to get a shot off for a chance to win.

Pugh had another double-double and narrowly missed a triple-double, finishing with 14 points, 18 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals.  Marqiis Samuels (Long Island/The Patrick School) and Damari Johnson (Binghamton/Johnson City H.S.) each had 13 points, with Johnson pulling down 7 rebounds and Samuels handing out 4 assists. Javonte Long (Harlem/Clayton H.S.) tallied 12 points and 4 assists.

Looking ahead

The Panthers are off until after the Thanksgiving break. Next up is a home game against Jefferson Community College on Tuesday, November 28.