The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team, winners of two of its last three games, put up several first's in its most recent game against King's College.

The Hawks (4-7 overall, 1-3 SUNYAC) won their first road game of the season, had six different players in double-figures for the first time in more than a decade and also netted 100 points for the first time since the 2010-2011 season. They hope they can cultivate all those firsts into momentum heading into a pivotal SUNYAC weekend against Oswego State (6-5 overall, 3-1 SUNYAC) and SUNY Cortland (9-2 overall, 4-0 SUNYAC).

"I don't see why not," said SUNY New Paltz junior point guard Cory Garcia. "We had multiple guys in double figures, we had 100 points for the first time in several years for New Paltz boys basketball and hopefully we just keep trusting each other and it's the same ball movement – good things will happen when you move the ball."

The Hawks are looking to come out of the weekend with at least one conference win, which would not only double their SUNYAC victory total from a season ago, but also put them in the middle of the playoff hunt.

"Coming out with at least one SUNYAC victory is huge, because right now in the league we're 1-3, and we don't want to fall 1-5," Garcia said. "So hopefully, we can even-up and be .500 and if we win both and get above .500 people are going to know we're a threat around SUNYAC."

It will be two hard-fought games against the Red Dragons, who currently sits at the top of the SUNYAC standings and have already defeated SUNY New Paltz earlier this year, and the Lakers, who are winners of five of their last six.

In their previous match up, SUNY Cortland got out to a hot start and went up by as many as 17 in the first half. The Hawks battled their way back and got within nine down the stretch, but couldn't limit the Red Dragons from the field, as they shot 50 percent and sank 15 shots behind the perimeter in the, 89-73 win.

"I think the biggest thing that we have to do this time around against Cortland is just put a full 40 minutes together," said SUNY New Paltz junior guard Paddy Parr. "We had a lot of good pieces, but we just need to put the whole 40 together and come together as a team."

SUNY Cortland has four players averaging more than 12 points per game including James Morales (16.9), Justin Cooper (15.2), Nicky Bonura (12.8) and Zach Lydon (12.3). As a team, the Red Dragons average nearly 82 points per game, and give up about of 70.3.

As for Oswego State, it's looking to keep its positioning near the top of the leader board, as the Lakers are currently tied for second in the standings.

"Right now we're just focusing on Oswego, the game ahead of us, but we'd love to get both [wins]," Parr said. "We're just coming out here and playing our best and the results will be good if we give our best effort and play team basketball."

Like the Hawks, Oswego State was also in action this past weekend and split its two games. The Lakers took their fifth loss of the season in their latest match up against Utica College, which ended a five-game winning streak.

Jamir Ferebee is Oswego State's leading scorer, averaging nearly 19 points per game, to go along with 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists. As a team, the Lakers are netting about 75 points per game, while giving up an average of 70.1 points.

"They're always really smart, they're very patient and they execute offensively," said Garcia of the Lakers. "So defensively we're trying to get into their stuff, pressure them as much as we can to make them uncomfortable. Hopefully, that is what we'll do."

The Hawks, meanwhile, are led offensively by Dylan Balducci (14.5 points per game) off the bench, and as a team average about 75 points a contest, while allowing nearly 82 points per game – a statistic they are working hard to diminish.

"Some things we've been working on are defensive rotations and putting in new defenses to throw teams off. It's always good to change up the pace that way," Garcia said. "What we could do this weekend to get some wins is just keep trusting each other, keep moving the ball and just execution on offense."

"I'd say the biggest thing is just trust the plays and trust the coaches," Parr added. "Pretty much come out and just trust each other and good things happen."

SUNY New Paltz is set to face Oswego State Friday at 7:30 p.m. and SUNY Cortland Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Hawk Center.  For live updates, recaps, photos, video and more, be sure to follow @nphawks on Twitter and @newpaltzhawks on Instagram and Facebook.