FREDONIA, N.Y. – Junior guard Dylan Balducci (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) recorded 23 points behind seven three-pointers but this offensive outburst was not enough as the State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team fell at host SUNY Fredonia 81-68 in SUNYAC action on Friday night at Steele Hall.
Coming off the bench, Balducci shot 8-of-18 from the field and 7-of-11 from downtown for his 23 points, one off his career high of 24 points, set earlier this season against SUNY Cortland on Dec. 6.
His seven made three-pointers is a career-best and is tied the second most made in single-game program history, as the last player to do so was R.J. Rosa '16 at Cortland on Jan. 6, 2015. Balducci also provided six boards, two assists and one steal in 32 minutes of action.
Joining Balducci in double figures was senior forward Andrew Seniuk (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) who scored 15 points, thanks to 3-of-6 shooting from long distance. Seniuk pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and led the team with 37 minutes on the hardwood.
Freshman center Nick Arthur (Washingtonville, N.Y./Washingtonville) notched seven points and five boards while sophomore guard Cory Garcia (Highland, N.Y./Highland) distributed a team-best four assists. Sophomore forward Brandon Tolliver (Riverhead, N.Y./Riverhead) notched three blocks on the defensive end.
With the defeat the Hawks fall to 1-14, 0-9 SUNYAC and will look to bounce back at Buffalo State tomorrow at 2 p.m.
For the Blue Devils (8-9, 5-5 SUNYAC), five players finished in double digits as Ian Helps led the way with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Overall, the Hawks outshot Fredonia from long distance, going 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) but allowed the Blue Devils to go 30-of-36 from the charity stripe (83.3 percent) while being outrebounded by 15 (46 to 31).
Early on the Hawks grabbed their largest lead of the game off a Matt English (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) lay up to go ahead 2-0 at 19:48. New Paltz would only go ahead by two points several more times in the opening half and with the contest knotted at 28-all, the Blue Devils used a 4-0 run to take a 32-28 lead at intermission.
Following the break, the Hawks fell behind 42-31 after Fredonia used a 10-3 spurt in the first four minutes. With 12:11 to go, New Paltz grabbed its first lead of the second half (46-45) when Seniuk sunk a jumper but again the Blue Devils countered with a 11-0 run before Balducci stopped the bleeding, making the contest 59-49 in favor of Fredonia with a little over six minutes in regulation.
Trying to play catch-up and stop the clock, the Hawks needed to foul Fredonia in order to get the ball back. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils could not seem to miss free throws in the last 4:39, going 13-of-15 as a team to put the game away and hand New Paltz its 10th straight loss.