CORTLAND, N.Y. – R.J. Rosa made all six of his second-half 3-point attempts and finished with a game-high 31 points as New Paltz held off a second-half rally to defeat Cortland, 78-73, in a SUNYAC contest.

The Red Dragons suffered their first loss of the season and are now 8-1 overall and 2-1 in the league. New Paltz improved to 4-6 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

Rosa finished the game 7-of-9 from 3-point range (10-of-16 overall), hit all four of his free throws and added four rebounds and three steals. Taylor Sowah finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds, Kevin Roach totaled 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals and Andrew Seniuk had nine points and five boards.

T.J. Hefele (Greenlawn/Friends Academy) led Cortland with a career-high 20 points. He made 5-of-9 from the 3-point arc and pulled down five rebounds. Blair Estarfaa (Buffalo/Maryvale) scored 13 points, Lamard Herron (Westbury) finished with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists and James Morales (Mount Kisco/Fox Lane) chipped in with nine points, three assists and a team-high six rebounds. Of Cortland's 73 points, 41 came from bench players.

Cortland trailed 33-20 at halftime after shooting only 20 percent from the field and committing 16 turnovers. New Paltz led only 20-16 with less than five minutes left in the half before going on a 13-0 run, including seven points from Roach, to take a 33-16 lead with 47 seconds remaining.

The Red Dragons scored the final four points of the half and the first bucket of the second half, but Rosa scored the Hawks' next 15 points on five treys and New Paltz led 48-28 with 13:14 left.

Cortland eventually whittled the deficit to eight points at 58-50 on a Hefele layup with 6:49 remaining. The Red Dragons got a steal on New Paltz's next possession but turned the ball over themselves, and Rosa's layup with 6:06 left made it a 10-point game.

A Paul Burke (Central Valley/Monroe-Woodbury) 3-point play with 5:43 left pulled Cortland within seven at 60-53. New Paltz, however, scored 11 of the next 14 points and led 71-56 with two minutes left. Cortland finished the game on a 17-7 run, including a Hefele layup at the buzzer to create the final margin.

New Paltz shot 43 percent from the field, 45 percent (9-of-20) from 3-point range and 66 percent (23-of-35) from the foul line. Cortland bounced back from its tough first half shooting to hit 45 percent in the second half (41 percent from the arc) and finished at 36 percent overall from the floor. The Red Dragons made 13-of-42 3-pointers compared to 11-of-25 shots from 2-point range.

Cortland will host Oswego in a SUNYAC matchup Friday at 5:30 p.m.