NEW PALTZ, NY- The New Paltz men's basketball team fell to the visiting Lakers from Oswego State Tuesday night 72-69 in the Hawk Center.  The Hawks fall to 11-13 overall and 7-10 in the SUNYAC.  Oswego improves to 12-11 overall and 6-10 in the SUNYAC.

Sophomore guard Shereef Taylor scored a game-high 23 points, had five rebounds and five assists.  Taylor had an excellent night shooting as he was 5-of-8 from the floor, including 3-of-3 from behind the arc and 10-of-12 from the free throw line.  Freshman guard Nick Taldi had 17 points on 5-of-7 from behind the arc.  Harris Wichard finished with 10 points and Jayquan Anderson had nine points and a game-high seven rebounds for the Hawks.

Four players scored in double-figures for the Lakers, led by Sean Michele with 12 points and Chad Burridge and Hayden Ward each had 11 points a piece.  Jose Uribe finished with 10 points as the Lakers shot 82 percent from the free throw line, (27-33) for the game.

Oswego scored the first four points of the game, but the Hawks came back with five straight points on an Anderson jumper and a Wichard three-pointer from the corner.  With the game tied at 9-9 with 13 minutes, 41 seconds to go in the half, the Lakers scored five straight to take a 14-9 advantage.  The responded with a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to take the lead that they would not relinquish.  The Lakers held a slight advantage 12-8 in points in the paint.

The Lakers Ryan Sheridan drilled a three-pointer to open the second half to tie the game, which ignited a 23-8 run over the next 12 minutes.  The Hawks stayed strong though, cutting the lead to four at 63-59 on a three-pointer from Taldi in the corner.  After back-to-back free throws by Ward, the Hawks Taylor stole a pass and went the length of the court and slammed it home to get the crowd back on their feet.  Taylor continued to lead the Hawks come back with a three-pointer at the top of the key to cut the lead to three with 31 seconds remaining.  The Hawks held the Lakers without a field goal the final four minutes, 22 seconds, but they were 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes, 41 seconds to hold on for the win.  

The Hawks wrap-up their regular season against Oneonta on Friday at 8 p.m. in the Hawk Center.