Box Score
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Two student athletes finished in double figures for the men's basketball team at the State University of New York at New Paltz but this wasn't enough as the Hawks fell to visiting Brockport 84-70 on Friday night in the Hawk Center.
New Paltz falls to 1-20, 0-15 SUNYAC and will look to get in the win column tomorrow, hosting SUNY Geneseo at 2 p.m. The Golden Eagles improve to 17-5, 12-3 SUNYAC and head to SUNY Oneonta for a 2 p.m. tipoff.
Junior guard
Dylan Balducci (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) drained a game-high 21 points, going 7-of-12 from the field, 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 4-of-4 from the foul line in 31 minutes of action, while also providing four assists.
Senior forward
Andrew Seniuk (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) notched 19 points, going 7-of-11 from the field, while recording seven boards, two helpers, one block and one steal in a game-high 37 minutes.
Sophomore guard
Cory Garcia (Highland, N.Y./Highland) filled the stat line, registering nine assists, nine boards and three points. Sophomore forward
Nick Paquette (Smithtown, N.Y./Smithtown West) and junior forward
James Saunders (Endicott, N.Y./Union-Endicott) just missed on double figures, with nine points apiece.
For the Golden Eagles, four players finished in double digits with Clifton Lyerly scoring a team-best 19 points in just 15 minutes off the bench.
New Paltz shot the ball well on Friday night, going 50 percent from the field (25-of-50) and 52.6 percent from downtown (10-of-19) but committed 28 turnovers, as Brockport scored 40 points off the Hawks' miscues.
Midway through the opening half, New Paltz was enjoying a six-point advantage (20-14) following a Seniuk layup with 9:49 to play. However, Brockport countered with a full-court press and outscored the Hawks 26-14 for the remainder of the first period to put New Paltz in a six-point deficit at the break, trailing 40-34.
In the start of the second half, Brockport extended that lead to 12 (49-37) with 16:05 on the clock before back-to-back threes by Paquette got New Paltz back to within five (49-44) with exactly 14 minutes to play.
Unfortunately for the home team, this was the closest that New Paltz got to claiming the lead as the Golden Eagles went ahead by as many as 17 points to hand the Hawks the tough home conference defeat.
