Box Score New Paltz, NY – The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team battled SUNY Potsdam all the way until the end, but after a buzzer-beater attempt from junior guard Cory Garcia hit back rim, the Hawks fell 75-73 on senior day.
 
The four seniors on the team (Dylan Balducci, Kevin Coyle, Brandon Guest, and James Saunders) were honored pre-game in a short ceremony with their families. "All four of them have contributed a lot in different ways," said head coach Keith Kenney. "Dylan and Brandon have played the most this year and have had a huge impact on what we do. They've all gave their heart and soul, I love coaching them and the good news is I have them for six more games so we're not quite done yet."
 
SUNY New Paltz started out a little sluggish, but down 11-5 sophomore guard Tristan Wissemann checked into the game and provided a spark, scoring five consecutive points bringing it back to a one-point game.
 
The first lead of the game didn't come until five minutes left in the first half when Balducci drained a three off a pass from junior guard Nick Paquette for a 29-28 lead. Balducci and Paquette hooked up again on the following offensive possession, but this time it was Paquette downing a mid-range jumper. SUNY New Paltz led 38-32 with a minute remaining in the half, but a three-pointer from Potsdam's Matt Piercy cut the lead to three heading into halftime.
 
Twelve seconds into the second half Paquette knocked down a three off a pass from Garcia to open up a hot start to the half for the Hawks. A minute later Garcia lobbed it over the defense to sophomore forward Matthew English who dropped in the layup to make it an eight-point lead. Guest wanted to get in on the action for SUNY New Paltz and knocked down a jump shot in the paint to push the lead to double digits in the opening two minutes of the half.
 
"I didn't tell them any different than usual at halftime," said Kenney. "I just told them to play hard defense and make a run. That's what we did, but we just didn't maintain it."
 
The Bears climbed their way back into the game and following a three from Nosa Onabor the lead was back down to one at 53-52 with 12 minutes remaining. However, the Hawks jumped back out to a double-digit lead sparked by a 9-0 run and eventually led 66-55 with seven minutes remaining. Potsdam answered back quickly rattling off a 9-0 run of their own in just over a minute to make it a 66-64 game with six minutes left.
 
Back-to-back free throws from Danny Delsol-Lowry tied the game up for the Bears with 3:57 remaining in the game. Balducci answered back scoring four consecutive points allowing the Hawks to take a four-point lead into the final two minutes of play.
 
Down 73-70 with 1:11 reamining Potsdam's Delsol-Lowry pushed the ball up the court after a missed free throw from Balducci and found Onabor for his third three of the game to tie up the game. After a tough jump-shot from Paddy Parr didn't go for the Hawks Dante Langley banked in a 15 foot jump shot to give the Bears their first lead since the first half. Eighteen seconds remained on the clock for SUNY New Paltz to tie or win the game. After a few passes, the ball landed in the hands of Balducci who had the ball tipped from his hands leading to a scramble for the ball. Garcia came up with it and leaned into a jump shot from behind the arc as time was running out. The buzzer rang with the ball in the air, and it looked like it had a chance to fall, but a tough bounce off the back rim ended the game and gave Potsdam the comeback win.
 
Wissemann paced the Hawks offensively with 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting while Balducci and Paquette followed with 15 and 12, respectively. The Bears out-shot SUNY New Paltz from behind the arc going 8-for-18 compared to 6-for-25 for the Hawks. Although the turnover battle favored SUNY New Paltz considerably at 18 to four, they were unable to close out the Bears and record their seventh win of the season.
 
"I thought they played great," said Kenney. "I think the other team made some tough shots and made a run. We gave up some untimely threes, we got into foul trouble early in the half, but we didn't execute down the stretch and that's on the coaching staff. We didn't put our guys in position to get good shots down the stretch and that's on us."