Box Score
New Paltz, NY – With the final seconds ticking down in overtime and the game on the line, tied at 77, senior
Cory Garcia knew it was his time.
State University of New York at New Paltz guard
Jake Passaretti held the ball up top before patiently waiting for the clock to have 10 seconds remaining before he aggressively attacked the paint. With two SUNY Oneonta defenders meeting him in the lane, he kicked the ball out to Garcia waiting in the corner. Garcia blew past his defender, got a step just inside the free throw line and put up a floater that fell perfectly through the net to boost the Hawks past the rival Red Dragons, 79-77.
"Coach drew up a play and he told Jake to wait until the clock goes down to 10 seconds and at 10 seconds attack," Garcia recalled. "So Jake does a little cross over and comes my way and I'm like, 'OK, I think I'm going to get this ball.' In my head I know there is five seconds or less [on the clock], so I attacked and I floated it up. It felt good off the hand and we got a W."
SUNY New Paltz (4-3 overall, 1-2 SUNYAC) remained undefeated at home with the win, which was nearly put in jeopardy after SUNY Oneonta's Joseph Bull knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend the contest to extra time.
The Red Dragons (3-4, 0-3) took their momentum into overtime and jumped out to an early four-point lead. Off a defensive rebound by
Nick Paquette, SUNY New Paltz pushed the ball up the floor and found Passaretti who knocked down a big 3 to get his team within one with about two minutes left. Garcia then hit 1-of-2 from the foul line to tie the game at 75 before Bull gave SUNY Oneonta back the lead with his made jumper. Next time down the floor,
Tristan Wissemann got a good look from 3, but his attempt hit the front of the rim and back in play where
Paddy Parr hustled to grab the offensive board and give it back to Wissemann underneath for two, tying the score once more at 77 all.
The Red Dragons worked the ball back to Bull on the ensuing possession, but
Scott Reisert checked back into the game and played swarming defense on the 6-foot, 7-inch forward, forcing him into a bad shot. Reisert pounced on the rebound to give the Hawks back possession with 20 seconds remaining in the game.
"We talked after the game about how it is always different guys' turns," said SUNY New Paltz coach
Keith Kenney. "Scott sat a lot and he came in and made a huge play. We thought we needed more size to get a rebound over Bull and he got it. So we have been talking about it is always somebody's turn to do whatever it takes. Guys made timely plays and that was huge, different guys making timely plays."
Following the Reisert defensive board, the Hawks immediately called a timeout and Kenney drew up one final play, which resulted in Garcia's game-winning bucket.
"It was designed to get to Jake in some open space, because he's great at making his own decisions," Kenney explained. "If he wasn't open he was either going to kick it back to the top with Tristan or kick it to one of the corners. That is a play that every team runs, so it wasn't designed for him, but what I like about Cory is that we told him he needs to attack and score this year. He is an unselfish player by nature, but he took the biggest shot of the game."
SUNY New Paltz overcame a five-point halftime deficit after trailing, 39-34 heading into the break. The Hawks took their first lead of the game since the early going of the first half with 5 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in regulation following some hot shooting off the bench from
Nick Paquette, who hit four 3's in a five-minute stretch to aid in the rally.
A made 3 by Paquette with more than two minutes to go gave SUNY New Paltz a three-point advantage, which forced the Red Dragons to foul down the stretch. Harrison Deegen cut the deficit to one for SUNY Oneonta, but SUNY New Paltz's defense held tough defensively to hang on to the slight margin. Garcia was sent to the foul line with four seconds to go and extended the cushion to three following the pair of made free throws. Without any timeouts the Red Dragons quickly inbounded the ball and found Bull at the top of the arc where he put up a desperation 3 with hands in his face, which swished in as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 68.
The Hawks resiliently came back in overtime and although Bull got the same look at the end of overtime at the buzzer, his attempt hit the right edge of the rim this time around to seal the win for SUNY New Paltz.
"To lose the lead at the buzzer and to go into overtime is always difficult to overcome and the other team has the momentum, but I told them that I was proud they didn't let that get them down," Kenney said. "Even in overtime we were down to a team who lost in the [conference] championship game last year. They are well-coached, they are a great team and so yeah, I told them I was proud in their fight to want to come back."
The win over the Red Dragons is the programs first since 2013, as the Hawks also remain undefeated at home with a perfect 4-0 record in the Hawk Center.
Passaretti led his team with a career-high 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the floor, while adding five assists, two steals and two rebounds to his stat line. Paquette followed with 17 points, burying 5-for-9 from 3-point range, while adding four rebounds. Wissemann finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists, while Parr had a team-high six assists to go along with five rebounds and seven points.
"This is a turnaround game and now we just have to keep focusing on racking up these SUNYAC [wins], because we're looking at playoffs," Garcia said. "Oneonta had the same guys and they made it to the finals last year, so got to believe."
The Hawks hope to push their winning streak to three when they hit the road to take on Baruch College Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
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