POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Junior guard/forward Kevin Coyle (Rockville Centre, NY/South Side) tallied a team-high 26 points in his program debut but this offensive output was not enough as the State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball squad fell at host Vassar 71-65 in the 2016 opener on Tuesday evening.

Coyle shot 8-of-18 from the field and 8-of-9 from the foul line before fouling out in the second half. Senior forward Andrew Seniuk (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) hauled down a game-high 13 rebounds and tossed in eight points.

Sophomore guard/forward Nick Paquette (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West) tallied nine points behind 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc while freshman forward Matt English (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West) enjoyed nine points off the bench in his collegiate debut.

The Hawks (0-1) will look to respond in the Greg Richards Memorial Tip-Off hosted by Allegheny this weekend, playing the host Gators on Friday at 7 p.m. New Paltz then takes on D'Youville on Saturday at 1 p.m.

For the Brewers (1-0), Alex Seff was a one-man wrecking crew, notching a double-double with 34 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 13-of-20 from the field.

Trailing 39-33 at intermission, the Hawks were able to knot the contest at 48-48 after an and-one by Coyle. New Paltz grabbed a three-point lead (51-48) after a layup and free throw from sophomore forward Brandon Tolliver (Riverhead, NY/Riverhead) but Vassar was able to reclaim the lead from this point and would not let up to hand the Hawks the season-opening defeat.