In a game of large runs, SUNY Cortland had one major one left in them to pull away to defeat the visiting SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team 78-53 in each squad's SUNYAC conference opener on Friday night at Corey Gym.

Junior captain Lamard Herron made 12-of-20 shots and sank all eight free throws he attempted for a game highs of 34 points, five assists and six steals. Herron now averages 22.0 points per game on the season. He had scored 26 points in his last game just three days earlier at Ithaca College. T.J. Hefele also scored 15 points.

It was the Red Dragons who struck first with a big run by capitalizing on a 16-6 run to close the first half and put Cortland up 38-26 at the break.

Potsdam utilized an 18-8 run to wean the lead down to 51-48 with 9:41 remaining in the second half on 3-pointer made by senior forward Colin Peterson (Hilton, N.Y. / Hilton). Coming off the bench, Peterson finished with six points (2-for-4 from 3-point range), five rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

The Bears (1-5 overall, 0-1 SUNYAC) would get no closer though as the team went into a cold shooting funk and the Red Dragons (4-0 overall, 1-0 SUNYAC) poured it on with a 27-5 run to pull away and close out the game.

Freshman forward Josh Blagrove (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Bishop Ford) led the Bears with 10 points. Junior transfer Rishawd Hendricks (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Mount Zion Christian Academy) and junior swingman Zac Adams (Potsdam, N.Y. / Potsdam) each totaled seven points while Brandon Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Boys & Girls) and Joe Estramonte (Greenwich, N.Y. / Greenwich Central) scored six points apiece.

Cortland held a huge disparity in the amount of free throws taken by shooting 21-of-27 from the line while the Bears shot only 6-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Potsdam will play at Oswego State Saturday at 4 p.m. in another SUNYAC conference contest.