NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team was unable to overcome an 18-point first-half deficit, losing, 80-63, to Middlebury College in a non-conference contest on Tuesday evening at the Hawk Center.
 
Senior guard/forward R.J. Rosa (North Branch, N.Y./Sullivan West) led the Hawks with 22 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Senior forward/center Alex Perlman (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) added 14 points, while junior guard Eric Regenbogen (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) chipped in with 12 points in 23 minutes coming off the bench. Junior forward Andrew Seniuk (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) grabbed 10 rebounds, while Perlman swatted away four Middlebury shots.
 
For Middlebury, senior forward Matt Daley and junior guard Jake Brown keyed a balanced attack with 19 and 10 points, respectively, with Daley adding 10 rebounds to complete the double-double. Sophomore guard Jack Daly posted a solid stat line of nine points, eight assists and four steals, while Brown dished out seven assists and finished with three steals. Sophomore forward Nick Tarantino fortified the Panthers down low with six rebounds and four blocks coming off the bench.
 
New Paltz drops to 1-4 overall with the loss and takes a week and a half off from competition before opening up State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play on Friday, Dec. 4, at 7:30 p.m. against SUNY Plattsburgh. Middlebury rises to 1-2 with the win and next competes at the University of Rochester/Holiday Inn Airport Tournament from Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 28-29.
 
The Panthers never trailed in the contest, but the Hawks hung tough early, trailing by single digits until midway through the first half. Middlebury shot 47.5 percent (19-of-40) from the floor and forced New Paltz into 13 turnovers in the first half to enter the locker rooms with a decisive 45-27 advantage.
 
Middlebury continued to dictate the tempo in the early goings of the second half, as a 3-pointer by Daly staked the Panthers to their largest lead of the game (55-32) with 17:57 left in regulation. The momentum teetered back and forth between the two teams until New Paltz went on a 7-0 spurt late in the contest. An old-fashioned 3-point play by Regenbogen with 2:54 remaining drew the Hawks within 12 points at 75-63, their smallest deficit of the half, but the Panthers received five unanswered points by junior guard Matt St. Amour to close out the game.
 
Middlebury shot 44.6 percent (33-of-74) from the field on the game and finished with a 48-42 edge in rebounds. New Paltz did, however, shoot the ball well from deep, knocking down 40 percent (8-of-20) of its 3-point attempts. Both teams scored 15 points off turnovers, while the Panthers' bench held a 26-20 margin over the Hawks' reserves.