Box Score Potsdam, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team fought until the final seconds against hosting SUNY Potsdam and fell in a tight down-to-the-wire game, 73-71.
 
"We needed to execute and make winning plays down the stretch and we didn't," said Hawks coach Keith Kenney.
 
There were four lead changes in a back-and-forth first half that saw SUNY New Paltz (2-3 overall, 0-2 SUNYAC) cut the score to two following a Matt English bucket with nine seconds left in the game.
 
Heading into the second half trialing the Bears, 34-32, the second half saw the score tied five times in the last 20 minutes. With 1 minute, 6 seconds left in the game, Jake Passaretti found some space in the paint and finished strong to cut the score, 67-66 in favor of Potsdam.
 
The Bears (4-3, 2-0) called an immediate timeout to regroup and responded with a big 3 by Dante Langley to push the deficit back to four. Following a timeout by Kenney, Scott Reisert knocked down a 3 from the left side of the arc to again get the Hawks within one.
 
But Potsdam did its job on the foul line and made 3-of-4 in the last 23 seconds to keep the lead and pull out with the win.
 
Tristan Wissemann led the Hawks with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field, three rebounds and two assists. Paddy Parr followed with 14 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Passaretti added 13 points on 6-for-11 from the field with four assists.
 
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Dec. 8 against Catskill Cup rival SUNY Oneonta.  

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