The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team is looking to keep the momentum from Tuesday's 77-72 win against The Sage Colleges into Saturday's State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) matchup against Catskill Cup rival SUNY Oneonta (3-3 overall, 0-2 SUNYAC). The Hawks hope to earn their first win against the Red Dragons since 2013.

"I don't think it's just them that we have a chip on our shoulder with," said SUNY New Paltz sophomore guard Keith Seaman. "I think we have something to prove to the whole SUNYAC and more to ourselves as a whole team... We're going to try to come out from the jump and jump on them right away, because we feel like we're the better team. We can run in transition, we can push the ball and overall we want to have a whole game where we dominate from start to finish." 

A win over the Red Dragons would mark the first SUNYAC win of the season for the Hawks, who dropped their first two conference games of the year last weekend despite two strong outings, especially against No. 13 ranked Plattsburgh State Nov. 30. SUNY New Paltz enters the game against the Red Dragons sitting at .500, earning three non-conference wins over Maritime College, SUNY Delhi, and the Gators all at home.

"We work really hard when we're home," said SUNY New Paltz junior center Nick Arthur. "Working hard on those teams really shed some light that we can do big things this year. We're definitely confident that we're definitely going to win. The team we have now are great guys, great team, great coaches, everyone is a lot better and we're ready." 

SUNY Oneonta will come into the Hawk Center in the same position as the Hawks, with a 3-3 record that includes wins over Keystone University, Grove City College, and Susquehanna University. Also like SUNY New Paltz, the Red Dragons are searching for their first SUNYAC win, dropping their first two games against the Cardinals and SUNY Potsdam. SUNY Oneonta is scoring 82.3 per-game, while allowing just 76.5 points against.

"They have a lot of good shooters. Looking at the scout, [junior guard Kevin Mackin] is a very good shooter, so if we can stay on him, chase him around, force him to put the ball on the floor and same thing with their bigs," said Seaman. "Their bigs don't look to post-up a lot, so I feel like we're stronger in the inside [and] if we make them play more inside out and not shoot the ball as much I feel like we'll have a great chance. 

Mackin has backed up a strong sophomore season with an even better start to 2018. The 6-foot, 2-inch guard is averaging 17.8 points per-game through six games, shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from 3-point range. Sophomore forward Andres Rivera burst onto the scene for the Red Dragons this season, averaging 13 points and 4.2 boards off the bench through six games, including a career-high 26 points in SUNY Oneonta's early season win over Grove City.

"We emphasized locking down shooters," Arthur said. "They have a good shooter on their team... and stopping passing lanes, no easy passes, going over double screens, stuff like that, just going over fundamental aspects." 

SUNY New Paltz will try to extend its undefeated record at home to 4-0 Saturday. As a team, the Hawks are scoring an average of 77.2 points per-game, while giving up 79.5 points against.

The Hawks are getting production all along its rotation. Junior Tristan Wissemann is leading the team in scoring with 13.2 points per-game on 37.5 percent shooting, in addition to 4.2 rebounds per-contest. Junior Scott Reisert is right behind Wissemann, averaging 12.8 points per-game on 50 percent shooting, while leading the team in blocks (1.3 per-game), and ranking second in rebounds (5.8 per-game). Senior Paddy Parr has made his presence known on both ends of the court. The 6'3 guard has lit up every column of the stat sheet, averaging 5.3 points, while leading the team with 6.7 boards, 4.7 assists, and 1.7 steals per-game.

"We have to be as tight and as fluid as possible," Seaman said. "We're trying to clean up the turnovers and also minimize defensive mistakes – miscues, miscommunication – so we're just trying to sharpen everything and just try to be more precise. If you shoot for perfection you're at least going to get 85 percent."

SUNY New Paltz is scheduled to take on Red Dragons at home Saturday at 4 pm. 

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