BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Frostburg State men’s basketball team had its hands full with a persistent D’Youville squad and prevailed in the end with a slim 75-72 AMCC victory in the first game of 2010 for both teams, Saturday afternoon. 

Box Score

In a game that featured 12 lead changes and four ties, FSU (7-2, 4-2) held off a barrage of three-point attempts in the closing seconds. The Spartans (2-8, 0-6) never backed down and trailed by just one point (60-59) with 7:49 to play.

FSU pushed its lead to a game-high nine points (71-62) with 4:15 remaining in the second but DYC collected a small 10-3 run and trailed by just two (74-62) with 49 seconds left. The Bobcats hit a free throw with 22 seconds showing and the Spartans missed three three-pointers in the final 13 seconds.

Juniors Busha Koffa (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley) and Steven Ogg (Arlington, Va./Yorktown) each posted double-doubles to lead four Bobcat players in double figures. Koffa scored 18 points and 12 rebounds while Ogg totaled 15 points and 12 boards. Senior Chevon Pinnock (Capitol Heights, Md./Central) scored 10 points and classmate Nick Sefick (Shady Grove, Md./Damascus) added 11.

The first half wasn’t any different than the second as neither team was able to pull away. Koffa drained a jumper to hand the Bobcats their largest cushion (27-20) at 4:42, but the Spartans rebounded to take a one-point lead (31-30) at 1:56. D’Youville made the final basket of the opening half to trim a three-point FSU lead to one, 36-35, at intermission.

Frostburg State held a 46-40 rebounding advantage and made three three-pointers and 18 free throws to overcome a season-low 37.3 shooting percentage (25-of-67) from the field.

Raysean Johnson scored 21 points for D’Youville while Lionel Ellis added 20. Greg Osika posted a double-double 10 points and 11 rebounds.

FSU returns to the floor on Monday, Jan. 4 when it takes on Hood College at 8:00 pm at Fort Detrick.