FREDONIA, N.Y. - SUNY Geneseo senior forward Gordon Lyons totaled 26 points and 12 rebounds while senior guard Andy Drescher added 19 points to lead the Knights to a 68-55 victory at Fredonia in their State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) opener, Tuesday. 

Lyons' double-double was his eighth in as many games to start the 2014-15 season for Geneseo (5-3, 1-0 SUNYAC). 

"Typical of the first game following a long break, I thought we came out a bit sluggish in the first half," said head coach Steve Minton. "Gordon's play in the first 20 minutes were key in keeping us in the game, and everyone did a good job of picking it up in the second half. Drescher did a little bit of everything down the stretch to help us pull away, while we also received some quality contributions from our bench that, while they won't show up in the box score, were key to the victory." 

An early 11-9 Geneseo lead at 15:30 quickly turned into a 24-16 deficit at 8:26 following a 13-5 Blue Devil outburst. A Drescher layup with 2:02 on the clock pulled the visitors back within one, 29-28, as Fredonia clung to a 31-28 lead at halftime.

Lyons led all scorers with 13 points at halftime, including 7-of-8 free throw attempts. 

First-year guard Kevin Crockett opened the second half with a three-pointer, before Lyons cashed in a Drescher steal to give Geneseo a 33-31 lead at 19:25 that it wouldn't relinquish. 

Fredonia got within one, 40-39, at 14:43, but the Knights responded with a 6-1 run to lead, 46-40, at 12:06. The Blue Devils came back to tie the game, 53-53, at 7:15, but the Knights held their hosts to two points the rest of the way, finishing the night on a 15-2 run down the stretch. Drescher was credited with eight points during the decisive run.

Lyons moved into seventh place on Geneseo's career scoring list with 1,286 points to date. He is only 52 points shy of sixth place, which is currently occupied by 2005 graduate Joe Zera who coached Lyons during his high school career at Canisius in his native Buffalo, N.Y.  

Geneseo continues its three-game road swing to start the conference schedule on Friday, taking on host Oneonta at 5:30 p.m. before heading to New Paltz on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tip.