Finger Lakes, Behind De La Cruz’s 21 Points, Defeats Cayuga, 74-63

AUBURN, NY. – Sophomore forward Richard De La Cruz and his 21 points – helped lead the Lakers to a 74-63 Mid-State Athletic Conference road win over the Cayuga CC Spartans on Saturday. With the win, Finger Lakes has now won four consecutive conference games.

The Lakers and Spartans remained close on the scoreboard after the first 20 minutes of the game concluded. Finger Lakes, who led Cayuga 32-30 at the half, went on to grab its double-digit victory by outscoring the Spartans post halftime by a difference of 42-33.

Finger Lakes, behind a 7-10 shooting day from De La Cruz, shot 40% from the field. The forward's 70% shooting effort from the hardwood consisted of a 4-6 day from three-point territory. In addition, De La Cruz was 3-3 from the free throw line. He capped off his 21 points with 7 rebounds.

Following De La Cruz in double figures for the Lakers were Wayne Barnes and Dominique Higgins. Barnes and Higgins, on the afternoon, delivered 14-point and 11-point efforts respectively. Both guards shot the ball particularly well in the win. Barnes was 6-7 from the field while Higgins was 4-8.

Following Barnes and Higgins with 9 points and 8 points respectively for Finger Lakes were Will Arberry and Sean Carbonell. In addition to his 8 points, Carbonell joined teammate De La Cruz in the rebounding department with 7 boards of his own.

Guard Kaleem Edwards paced the Lakers in the passing department with his 6 assists. The Brooklyn, NY native was also the leading shot blocker for Finger Lakes. On the day, he tallied 3 blocks in the road meeting.

Higgins, in addition to his 11 points, totaled 3 assists and 3 steals.