The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team fought and fought in its road conference game at Plattsburgh on Tuesday night.

The Bears even had the lead late in the first half and trailed just 36-35 at halftime against a team that has now won eight of its past nine games.

But the Cardinals (11-3 overall, 5-2 SUNYAC) were relentless in attacking the rim and drew plenty of contact to gain a plus 22 advantage in the amount of free throws taken on its way to a 73-58 triumph against Potsdam.

Plattsburgh made 22-of-33 from the charity stripe while Potsdam mustered just 5-of-11 from the foul line.

Potsdam (2-12 overall, 0-7 SUNYAC) cut the lead to four on a Josh Blagrove jumper with 13:35 remaining in the second half. After the Cardinals went on an 8-1 run, the Bears responded with a jumper and lay up from Rob Duquette (Peru, N.Y. / Peru), a layup from Rishawd Hendricks (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Mount Zion Christian Academy) and a driving score by Zac Adams (Potsdam, N.Y. / Potsdam) to cap an 8-4 advantage that got the Bears to within seven with 4:24 to play.

But, Plattsburgh made 10-of-12 free throws down the stretch and Potsdam shot 1-of-7 from the floor with two turnovers in the final 4:24 to seal it.

Adams shot 6-of-9 from the field to score a team-high 12 points and he grabbed six rebounds. Tom Graf (Elbridge, N.Y. / Jordan-Elbridge) came off the bench and provided a lift by knocking down 4-of-7 shots including 3-of-5 from downtown to account for 11 points in 15 minutes of action. Graf has now had three games this season in which he has made at least three 3-pointers.

Joe Estramonte (Greenwich, N.Y. / Greenwich Central) had eight points, three assists and three steals, Hendricks had seven points while Brandon Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Boys & Girls), Colin Peterson (Hilton, N.Y. / Hilton) and Duquette had six points apiece.

Edward Correa, Shamoy McIntosh, and Shavar Fields provided a balanced attack for Plattsburgh as each had 15 points. John Perez added 10 points, a game-high nine rebounds, a steal and a block.

Potsdam will be back in action Friday at Fredonia. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.