BUFFALO, N.Y.—  Buffalo State lost a hard fought conference battle against New Paltz, the top team in the conference, 73-67, at home on Friday night.

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE: New Paltz - 73, Buffalo State - 67   

LOCATION:  Sports Arena – Buffalo, NY

RECORDS:  Buffalo State (9-15, 5-12 SUNYAC), Potsdam (19-5, 14-2 SUNYAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Strong free throw shooting from New Paltz in the closing minute helped the Hawks seal a six-point win over the Bengals.  
• Jordan Yastremski (Bath/Bath-Haverling) led the Bengals with a double-double, tallying 12 points and 14 rebounds.
• Keyonte Edwards (Buffalo/O'Hara) also scored 12 points and added nine rebounds, while Caleh McLean (New Rochelle/New Rochelle) and Britt Perry (Buffalo/Hutch Tech) each finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
• Despite getting on the scoreboard first with a pull-up jumper from McLean at 8:02, the Bengals found themselves down 9-2 less than two minutes later after a quick 9-0 run from New Paltz.
• The Hawks hung onto the lead until another jumper from McLean tied the game up, 16-16, with 29 seconds left in the first quarter.
• Both teams traded the lead back-and-forth in the opening minutes of the second quarter, but a 12-3 run from the Hawks put them ahead 32-23 with 2:18 to go in the half.
• Buffalo State buckled down and two made free throws from Yastremski brought Buffalo State to within two points, 32-30, heading into halftime.
• The third quarter saw more back-and-forth action with the Bengals going up 45-41 at the 3-minute mark.
• Heading into the final quarter, Buffalo State was up by a point, 49-48. The Bengals pushed their lead out to five points at 8:31 in the fourth, but a 3-pointer from New Paltz at 5:49 proved key for the Hawks, giving them back a lead they would keep for the rest of the game.
• In the closing minutes, Buffalo State was able to get within one point on a few occasions, but could not find a way to take back the lead.
• The Bengals finished the night shooting 40 percent from the floor, 16.7 percent from long range and 77.8 percent from the free throw line.
• Buffalo State held a 51-34 rebounding advantage.

FOR THE FOES

• New Paltz finished the game shooting 36.1 percent from the floor, 30.8 percent from long range and 61.8 percent from the free throw line.
• Laura Stuart led the Hawks with a double-double, tallying 22 points and 10 rebounds, as well as finishing 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Kit Small added 14 points, while Colleen Ames chipped in 11 points.

UP NEXT

Buffalo State closes out the 2015-16 season with a 2 p.m. SUNYAC matchup at home against Oneonta on Saturday.