CORTLAND, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team (10-14, 8-9 SUNYAC) hit a bump in its playoff chase on Tuesday night at Whitney T. Corey Gymnsium in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action, falling to No. 23 SUNY Cortland (20-3, 14-2 SUNYAC) by an 87-47 final. It marks the first time since the 2010-11 season that the Hawks have been held to under 50 points.

Eleven different players scored for the Red Dragons in the victory, and Cortland shot 47.6 percent (30-of-63) from the field for the contest. New Paltz was hurt by 24 turnovers, and it shot just 29.8 percent (17-of-57) from the floor for the game. Furthermore, the Hawks shot 19.0 percent (4-of-21) from three-point range. New Paltz did hold a 40-37 edge on the glass.

Senior forward Matt Devine (Manalapan, N.J./Freehold Township) was the lone Hawk to reach double-digit scoring figures, as he drained a game-high-tying 20 points. Freshman forward Deveino McRae (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, and he fell just short of the double-double with eight points.

For Cortland, Kevin McMahon led the way, scoring 20 points off 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting from the free-throw line. He also chipped in eight rebounds. Jeremy Smith added 18 points, while Brian Manning netted 14 coming off the bench. Jesse Winter kept the offense moving with a game-high seven assists.

The game started off with New Paltz battling for the lead, as McMahon opened the contest with a made jumper before Devine knocked down a three-pointer to give the Hawks a one-point cushion. Senior guard/forward Shereef Taylor (Hyde Park, N.Y./Franklin D. Roosevelt) scored on a layup to give the Hawks a five-point edge—their largest of the night—but buckets by Smith and Winter gave Cortland the lead. The Red Dragons went on a 10-0 tear shortly thereafter, and they controlled the momentum throughout the rest of the stanza. Cortland ended the half on a 6-0 run to take a 48-21 lead into the locker room.

The second half did not look much better for the Hawks, as the two teams traded points before Cortland slowly pushed the advantage past 30. With 42 seconds left in the game, Matt McGowan hit a jumper, opening up the Red Dragons' largest lead of the night (40). That wound up providing the final margin, and Cortland avenged its loss to New Paltz from earlier in the season at the Hawk Center.

New Paltz closes out its regular-season schedule on Friday, Feb. 15, against SUNY Oneonta at 8 p.m. at the Hawk Center, but the Hawks' SUNYAC Tournament hopes also rest on Buffalo State's results. With the Bengals' win tonight, they sit a half of a game up on the Hawks in the SUNYAC standings with two games left to play this weekend. Buffalo State hosts The College at Brockport on Friday before traveling to SUNY Geneseo on Saturday, Feb. 16. Buffalo State must lose at least one of those games to force a tie. New Paltz holds the tiebreaker with a win over league-leading Cortland.