Box Score New Paltz, NY – As Keith Kenney has told his team, all it can take is one play to change the course of a game. And on Tuesday night, with the State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team hosting Vassar College (0-3), the Hawks came up with the biggest play of the game late in the fourth quarter on the defensive end that proved crucial in their first victory of the season.

"Sometimes we talk about it. It is just a play," Kenney said. "If you make that play, you go up five or six. You don't make that play and you could lose the game. So I think that was good icing with a defensive stop."

With less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation and SUNY New Paltz (1-2) holding a six-point lead, the Brewers brought the ball up the floor in a crucial possession. The Hawks stayed disciplined defensively and stuck tight with their man. The pressure allowed Brandon Guest to get a tip off a Vassar pass, then Keith Seaman followed with a block on the ensuing shot, before Nick Arthur picked up the loose ball to regain possession for SUNY New Paltz, which forced the Brewers to foul and ultimately helped close out the, 79-72 win.

"I am just happy for the guys. I think it's been a long time," said Kenney who collected his first coaching win as a Hawk. "Between the preseason and the first weekend, I think they just wanted to get a win and I think we needed to get it to get the season going. It feels good, because it was against a good team."

It was a back-and-forth game from the on-set. The score was tied seven times and there were nine lead changes in the first half alone.
Tristian Wissemann got SUNY New Paltz going in the first half, contributing on nine of the Hawks' first 11 points. Dylan Balducci then started to heat up toward the end of the half, knocking down 5-of-8 in the first 20 minutes to lead his team with 13 points at the break.

However, Vassar held the advantage at halftime due in part to its ability to get to the foul line. The Brewers hit 10-of-15 from the charity stripe to help build its 37-34 advantage following the first 20 minutes, but the Hawks adjusted at the break and made sure not to bail out any Vassar players in the lane.

"We talked about not fouling and putting them in the bonus early," Kenney said. "They got a lot of easy free throws, and we talked about keeping them out of the lane. [Jesse Browne] was killing us. He kept getting into the lane and getting easy touches. It wasn't any strategic thing. We just talked about keeping our hands off them and not fouling."

SUNY New Paltz got back on top about four minutes into the second half, following a jumper at the key by Arthur. But the lead changed hands twice before two made free throws by Wisseman gave the Hawks a one-point advantage with 13:09 left, and they slowly padded their cushion from there.

James Saunders and Guest built on the momentum following a hustle play on a loose ball. Saunders dove on the floor and keenly found Guest open through the scrum. Guest then emphatically slammed in the dunk to get the crowd and bench on their feet.

Balducci then took over from there. The senior knocked down big bucket after big bucket, tallying 12 of his final game-high 25 points in the last nine and a half minutes.

"My teammates kept finding me,"Balducci said. "I was getting good looks thanks to them. I was just kept letting it fly, nothing really changed for me. I was just staying confident out there and trusting my teammates. We came away with a win, and like I said, it was huge for us."

A lay-up by Paul Grinde made it a two-possession game for the Brewers with 1:12 left, but following a timeout the Hawks defense held firm to force a turnover and send Arthur to the line with 26.3 seconds remaining. Arthur hit a crucial foul shot to push the lead to seven and SUNY New Paltz continued to hold strong on the opposite end, as Vassar missed two 3-point attempts in the waning seconds to solidify the Hawks victory.

"The biggest thing we talked about was playing with intensity, playing with a sense of urgency and playing with passion and they did that," Kenney said. "It wasn't an X's and O's thing. We pretty much ran the same stuff. We just wanted it a little bit more and played a little bit harder I think."

Balducci finished 10 of 15 from the floor and 5 of 7 from the perimeter, while pulling down two rebounds. Arthur was close to a double-double, recording nine points on 4-for-10 shooting, with eight rebounds to go with a block and a steal. Cory Garcia (5-8) and Wissemann (4-5) each totaled 14 points, with Garcia adding four boards, two assists and two steals to his stat line, and Wisseman also adding four rebounds, two assists and a block.

"This one is huge, specifically for us," Balducci said. "We've been through a lot, not just this year but last year [too]. We've really been working our [butt] off. This one really feels good for a bunch of us. We had a lot of guys step up today – and wow, this one feels really good."

The Hawks are hoping to build off their first win when they are back on the court Nov. 28. They hit the road and go up against Hamilton College, which is 3-0 on the year thus far. Tip-off for that game is scheduled for 7 p.m. For live updates, highlights, videos, recaps and more, be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook.