The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team will have two more tests before entering the New Year, as the Hawks will play in the first annual Dr. Carol V DeCosta Men's Basketball Go 4 the Goal Classic at Medgar Evers College Saturday and Sunday.
 
The Hawks (4-4 overall) are coming off a road loss to Baruch College Dec. 11, but had the long break to regroup and brushed off the rust in their first day back at practice Thursday to prepare for the weekend.
 
"Coming off a long break, it is tough. [Thursday] we did a lot of conditioning and try to get our wind back," said SUNY New Paltz sophomore guard Jake Passaretti. "That's the biggest thing, trying to get your wind back, trying to get back into rhythm, making shots and hopefully we can go into this tournament this weekend and pick up two big wins."
 
The Hawks will take on the hosting Cougars to kick off the tournament Saturday at 4 p.m. Medgar Evers goes into the matchup on a three-game losing skid after winning back-to-back games for the first time this season.
 
The Cougars (2-7) have struggled on the offensive end, shooting just 38.4 percent from the field, while averaging about 75 points per game. And in turn, they've allowed their opposition to shoot nearly 47 percent from the floor, while yielding 83.7 points per game.
 
Medgar Evers will likely stay in its swarming zone defense throughout the match up. The Cougars have forced teams into bad decisions, as they average a staggering 19 caused turnovers per game, while also earning nearly 10 steals and four blocks a contest.
 
"I know that we are definitely confident that we can pick up two wins," Passaretti said. "The Medgar Evers team they play a lot of zone, which we have struggled with this year, so that is a big emphasis that we have going into this weekend. Hopefully we can clean that up and get the win." Following its game against the Cougars, SUNY New Paltz will take on The College of New Rochelle Sunday at 2 p.m. The Blue Angels (6-5) have won five of their last seven games, but are coming off a tight 75-72 loss against United States Merchant Marine Academy Dec. 18.
 
The College of New Rochelle is a balanced team that has scored nearly 87 points per game, while yielding 78 points a contest. As a team, they shoot about 42 percent from the floor and 30 percent from 3-point range.
 
Like Medgar Evers, the Blue Angels have capitalized on forced turnovers, scoring about 26 points per game off opponent miscues, while forcing nearly 24 turnovers per game. Defensively, they've allowed the opposition to shoot about 42 percent from the field and 31 percent from 3-point range — something the Hawks can take advantage of with their depth on the perimeter.
 
Tristan Wissemann leads SUNY New Paltz offensively, averaging 13 points per game, while shooting 45 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3-point range. Passaretti and Scott Reisert follow offensively; totaling 12 and 10.5 points per game, respectively.
 
The Hawks have yet to win a game on the road, as all four of their losses have come away from the Hawk Center where they are undefeated (4-0). They hope to change that margin over the weekend with two victories against the Cougars and Blue Angels 
"We've been great at home, but consistency on the road is our thing. Defense travels everywhere, so we have to take the defense that we play with at home and the consistency that we play with on offense at home and take that on the road," Passaretti said. "Going into the second half of the year, we're definitely just looking to make the playoffs. That is a big goal for us and I know everyone in here believes that we can do it. We got most of our conference games coming up in the second half, so it is time to buckle down and get some wins."

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