PLATTSBURGH, NY- The New Paltz men's basketball team fell to the Plattsburgh Cardinals by a score of 78-74.  The Hawks finish the season 11-15 overall. 

Harris Wichard led the Hawks with 17 points shooting 2-5 from behind the arc.  Shereef Taylor scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds.  Jayquan Anderson scored 16 points, collected three rebounds, and had one block.  Senior guard Oppong Agyemang scored eight points, dished off six assists, and collected seven rebounds.  Daniel Olsen was a force down low grabbing a team-high ten rebounds.

Steve Thomas led the cardinals scoring a game-high 25 points.  Chris Ruiz added 23 points and collected 11 rebounds.  Plattsburgh improved their record to 19-7. 

The team battled back and forth to a 7-7 tie with 16:55 in the half.  Plattsburgh then went on a 7-0 run in two minutes.  The Hawks called a timeout to slow the pace.  After the timeout, Nick Taldi hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to four.  The Hawks kept answering back as Taldi and Taylor each drained a three-pointer to trail by two.  With five minutes to go in the half Ryan Sawyer brought the Hawks some momentum.  Sawyer scored grabbed a steal and scored four quick points to capitalize.  With two seconds to go, Taldi grabbed a steal and drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the half.     

In the second half, the teams kept answering the bell as the score was tied seven times in nine minutes.  The Cardinals went on an 8-0 run till 8:46 was left in the contest.  Taylor brought some force showing his leadership by scoring six points to cut the deficit to two.  A minute later, with 3:52 to go in the game Wichard made a layup making the score 70-69.  Plattsburgh's Ruiz and Thomas both hit consecutive jumpers to establish a five point advantage.  Sawyer made a layup with 23 seconds remaining and Wichard drained a three-pointer after a free-throw by Thomas to cut the lead to one with 14 seconds to go.  Steve Thomas secured the victory by hitting two free-throws with 11 seconds to go.