NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – While the State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team (3-3, 1-1 SUNYAC) played No. 16 Buffalo State close the entire game, the visiting Bengals (5-0, 2-0 SUNYAC) wound up prevailing by a count of 89-83 in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) contest Saturday afternoon at the Hawk Center.

Junior guard Nick Taldi (Merrick, N.Y./Bellmore JFK) ignited the Hawk attack, scoring a career- and game-high 25 points off 7-of-16 shooting from the field—which included a 5-of-9 mark from distance—and 6-of-7 shooting from the free-throw line. Senior guard/forward Harris Wichard (Merrick, N.Y./Bellmore JFK) helped out New Paltz with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists, while junior forward Matt Devine (Manalapan, N.J./Freehold Township) registered a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards.

For Buffalo State, Ahmed Nagaya had a double-double, draining 15 points and caroming 14 rebounds, to go along with two blocks and one steal. Justin Mitchell scored a team-high 23 points and added seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal, while Jake Simmons joined both Nagaya and Mitchell in double figures with 21 points and chipped in defensively with a game-high five steals.

New Paltz stayed in the game largely due to its success from the charity stripe, as the Hawks knocked down 25-of-31 free throws (80.6 percent) and shot at a 93.3 percent (14-of-15) clip in the first half. Buffalo State won the rebounding battle by a 49-45 edge, while the Hawks turned the ball over 21 times to the Bengals' 14. Buffalo State also combined for seven blocks as a team.

The Hawks scored the first five points of the game—all of which came from Wichard—before the Bengals reached the scoreboard off a Mitchell dunk. After a Taldi three-pointer gave New Paltz a 14-7 edge at 13:50 of the first half, Buffalo State went on a 13-0 run, which was capped by a pair of made free throws by Anthony Hamer at 10:53 of the first half to give the Bengals a 20-14 lead. New Paltz hung around in the later stages of the first half, and Taldi tied the score at 38-all with a layup at 1:00 of the first half to give the Hawks a share of the halftime lead.

After Devine kicked off the second-half scoring with a made free throw, the Bengals went on a 7-0 run. The two teams vied for momentum midway through the period, and Buffalo State built its first double-digit lead of the afternoon at 9:17 of the second half. Following Mitchell's made free throw at 7:27 of the second half, New Paltz went on a 9-2 tear, and Taldi converted an old-fashioned three-point play at 6:20 of the second half to pull the Hawks within three at 74-71. After Mitchell slammed down a dunk, Wichard countered with a jumper to keep the deficit at three, but that would prove to the Hawks' high-water mark down the stretch, as New Paltz would not trim the margin down any further, walking away with its first conference loss of the young season.

The Hawks are back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 6, when they take on league foe SUNY Plattsburgh at 6 p.m. in Plattsburgh, N.Y.