The Fredonia State Blue Devils mens basketball team hosted the Oneonta Red Dragons on Saturday, and suffered a tough defeat, 106-63, in a SUNYAC league game at Dods Hall in Fredonia.

In the early going of the game, Oneonta came out flying, playing well both offensively and defensively.

The Red Dragons found their success in the early part of the first half through transition, forcing early turnovers along the perimeter, leading to some easy breakaway buckets. They did a great job at attacking the rim and Fredonia State had no answer.

Halfway through the first half, Fredonia State called a timeout in an attempt to slow down the game, trailing 22-15.

OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot Fredonia’s Isaiah Ice (11) attempts a contested shot during a game against the Oneonta Red Dragons, Saturday, at Dods Hall in Fredonia.

The early offensive effort from Fredonia State (2-13, 1-7) was led by Cody Johnson, a Cassadaga Valley graduate. Johnson scored the Blue Devils’ first five points and ended up finishing the game tied with the team lead of seven.

Down the stretch, Fredonia State made an effort to cut the Oneonta lead with some big 3-point shots, the Blue Devils made threes on consecutive possessions, but still were unable to slow their opponent. At halftime the Red Dragons led by 20, 53-33.

“Defensively we were awful,” said Fredonia State head coach Philip Seymore. “They just scored too easily, our defense was awful. I’m responsible for that. We’ve got to do a much better job defensively.”

The halftime break did not slow the visitors mojo, as they quickly scored the first five points in the half, prompting a Blue Devil timeout. The Red Dragons switched their method of attack to a focus on outside shooting, which further troubled Fredonia State. Oneonta went 10-19 from long range — drastically different compared to the five 3-pointers they attempted in the first half.

Despite a mountain to climb the Blue Devils saw a great effort from their bench. Abdullah Yusuf was efficient in his six minutes, scoring six points and grabbing two rebounds.

“There wasn’t too many positives,” said Coach Seymore. “Some of the young guys came in and played really well, but there aren’t too many positives to pull in when you lose by about 50 points.”

Unfortunately for Fredonia, bench heroics would not be enough as the Oneonta bench came to play. The Red Dragons had four starters score more than 15 and a bench player get 16.

“We need to work on our defense and offensive execution,” said Coach Seymore. “Some of the offense wasn’t as bad. But we’ve got to check somebody, they were on a 100 point pace, they got 106. I took the starters out with maybe eight minutes to go, but I got tired of looking at it. I wanted to put some of the other guys in.”

All the way to the end, the Blue Devils were unable to stop the Red Dragons offense from rolling. The final result was a disheartening 106-63 loss for the Blue Devils.

“It didn’t wind up the way we want,” said Coach Seymore. “We just have got to get better and get ready for Tuesday. We’ve beat Geneseo, but we’re not going to win a basketball game playing like that.”

The Blue Devils will hope to turn their season’s woes on Tuesday night when they travel to Geneseo.