NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Back in the friendly confines of the Hawk Center for the first time since Jan. 17, the State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team nearly picked up its first SUNYAC win of the season, falling 65-61 to visiting SUNY Fredonia on Friday evening.
Three players finished in double figures for the Hawks (1-18, 0-13 SUNYAC) with junior guard Dylan Balducci (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) leading the team with 15 points.
Junior forward James Saunders (Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott) notched 14 points off the bench, going 7-of-11 from the field and senior forward Andrew Seniuk (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) provided 13 points, eight boards, four assists and two blocks in a game-high 38 minutes of action.
Trailing by two (63-61) with 19 ticks on the clock, the Hawks were looking to win or force the game to overtime. Unfortunately, New Paltz missed a layup in the waning seconds and the Blue Devils (9-12, 6-8 SUNYAC) held on for the conference victory.
The Hawks will look to recover tomorrow, hosting Buffalo State at 2 p.m. while Fredonia heads to SUNY Oneonta for a 2 p.m. tip-off. The Bengals fell to the Red Dragons 103-85 on Friday night.
For Fredonia, three athletes tallied double digits, with Ian Helps scoring a game-high 17 points. Dante Williams notched a double-double with 16 points and 12 boards while Richard De La Cruz knocked in 12 points.
The first half was competitive to start and was tied at 9-9 until a 13-2 run by the Hawks gave the home team a sizeable 22-11 lead with 5:55 to play. However, a turnover-filled stretch gave momentum back to the Blue Devils and New Paltz held a slim, 26-25 lead heading into the break.
Following halftime, New Paltz knotted the game at 33-all after Balducci knocked in a pair of free throws. The Hawks then went ahead by nine (48-39) after a layup by sophomore guard Cory Garcia (Highland, N.Y./Highland) with 12 minutes to play.
Again the Blue Devils countered with a 14-5 spurt to tie the game at 53-all with 4:22 on the clock. Fredonia went ahead 62-59 with 35 seconds left but two free throws by Garcia got the Hawks within one, 62-61, with only 22 ticks on scoreboard.
Unluckily, a missed shot in the paint and two free throws by Helps down the stretch put the game out of reach as New Paltz suffered its 14th-straight defeat.