NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Junior forward Matt Devine (Manalapan, N.J./Freehold Township) netted a career-high 43 points in a fast-paced 96-87 win for the State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team (6-5, 3-2 SUNYAC) against State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) foe SUNY Potsdam (4-8, 2-4 SUNYAC) Tuesday night in the Hawk Center.

Both teams had terrific shooting nights, signified at the half when Potsdam was shooting 60.0 percent on 21-of-35 shooting, only to be bested by New Paltz's 64.3 percent (18-of-28) clip at the break. New Paltz would end the game with an even better field-goal percentage of 64.7 from its 33-of-51 overall performance. The Bears ended the night shooting 34-of-74 for a 45.9 percent clip.

Devine had a highlight night, scoring his 43 points on 14-of-24 shooting from the floor, hitting three of his seven three-point attempts, and going a perfect 12-of-12 from the free-throw line. Devine tacked on nine rebounds and five assists to lead the Hawks in all three categories. The junior was not alone in his tremendous scoring effort, as junior guard Nick Taldi (Merrick, N.Y./Bellmore JFK) chipped in with 24 points, one point shy of tying his career-high, coming primarily from his 5-of-7 shooting night from behind the arc. Senior guard Harris Wichard (Merrick, N.Y./Bellmore JFK) joined the juniors with a 23-point performance on 9-of-10 shooting, going 3-of-4 from three-point range.

The Bears, who led 53-50 at halftime, got spirited efforts from a number of players, including Rob Duquette's team-high 24-point, 11-rebound night. Tony Efese brought the Bears an additional 18 points, while Curtis Pierce and Josh Lambert each scored 14 points. Lambert grabbed eight boards and three steals, while Efese and Pierce each controlled four rebounds.

Potsdam took an early 4-0 lead on a bucket and two foul shots by Duquette, but a Taldi three-pointer set the tempo early for what would turn out to be a slugfest of a game. An 11-4 run gave the Hawks their largest lead of the first half, 17-10 with 13:41 remaining in the stanza, capped off by a three-point play the hard way by Taldi. The Bears struck back over the next four minutes, opening up their own largest lead of the half, 29-23, with 9:35 to go on a Lambert fastbreak layup. There were six lead changes in the first half, and buckets by Pierce and Lambert in the final minute sent the Hawks to the locker room with a three-point halftime deficit, 53-50.

A 6-0 Bear run began the second half, and the Hawks faced a 10-point deficit with 16 minutes remaining. Despite the adversity, the Hawks began to do what they had done all night: make shots. For the next five minutes and 48 seconds, the Hawks did not miss a shot, going on a 19-8 run. Devine and Taldi each scored eight points during the stretch, with Wichard adding a three-pointer, giving the Hawks a one-point lead, 76-75, with 10:12 remaining in the contest.

Both offenses went silent for nearly two and a half minutes, until Taldi extended the New Paltz lead with two made free throws. The Hawks went on an 8-0 run to earn the largest lead of the game, 86-75, at 4:14 of the second half, punctuated by a fastbreak layup by senior guard/forward Jamal Lis-Simmons (Highland, N.Y./Highland).

The Bears got the deficit down to three points twice within the final minute, but four consecutive free-throws by Devine iced the game with 20 seconds remaining, earned by a foul on the floor with a technical foul assessed to the Potsdam bench added on.

With the win, the Hawks raise both their overall and conference records to levels over .500, turning it on just as their SUNYAC schedule heats up. New Paltz begins its first SUNYAC road trip of 2012 on Friday, Jan. 13, visiting SUNY Oswego at 8 p.m., before making the trip to SUNY Cortland on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 4 p.m.