The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team is no stranger to close games. Eleven of its 16 games have ended in a seven-point differential or less, including in its most recent outing on the road against Buffalo State where junior forward Scott Reisert hit the game-winning buzzer-beater in the final seconds to secure the Hawks their ninth win — the most since the 2014-15 season.
 
The victory was much needed for a SUNY New Paltz (9-7 overall, 4-5 SUNYAC) team fighting for its first playoff spot in six years and it will need another road victory Saturday when it faces the Red Dragons (8-8, 3-6), which was another tight matchup the first time around Dec. 8.
 
"So right now we're the sixth seed in the playoffs, last spot to get in," said Hawks junior forward Matthew English. "We have to beat Oneonta and then we got a nice two-game cushion on them. It's a big time road game and we're trying to get this win."
 
Cory Garcia was the hero in the initial game against SUNY Oneonta, knocking down the game-winning floater to push SUNY New Paltz to a 79-77-overtime victory.
 
Although SUNY New Paltz closed out with the win in the match up, the Hawks let a seven-point cushion slip away and nearly suffered what would have been their first loss in the Hawk Center of the season. Joseph Bull hit a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer for SUNY Oneonta in regulation to force extra time, but the Hawks made enough stops, coupled by a clutch play by Garcia down the stretch to cement the win.
 
Since then, SUNY New Paltz has had an up-and-down road. It lost three of four before taking home two road wins this past weekend against the Blue Devils and Bengals.
 
"I think we're feeling really confident," said Hawks senior guard Paddy Parr. "Fredonia we won by 20, so it was our first 20-point blow out of the season and then against Buff State we only shot 5-of-18 from the [foul] line and we still came out with a win. We know we have a lot to improve on, especially foul shooting and turning it over, but being able to win games like that when you're not playing your best basketball is always a nice confidence boost."
 
Heading into Saturday, SUNY New Paltz is a game ahead of the Red Dragons in the conference standings, sitting in the sixth spot a game behind SUNY Potsdam and just two games behind SUNY Cortland and Plattsburgh State.
 
When the two teams met the first time around, Kevin Mackin and Bull led the team with 17 points apiece, combining to shoot 40 percent from the field and 28 percent from 3-point range.
"I think the biggest thing after playing them once and having a whole go-through with the SUNYAC, I think the biggest thing is rebounding against them, making sure their key players like Bull, Mackin and [Andres] Rivera, don't get off and box out, and just finish games," Parr said.
 
The Red Dragons also came away from last weekend with two wins over Fredonia and Buffalo State, but lost in their most recent matchup Tuesday against No. 8 Williams University, 73-54.
 
Mackin continues to lead SUNY Oneonta with 15.8 points per game, while for the Hawks, Reisert and junior forward Tristan Wissemann paces the team offensively with about 15 points, five rebounds and 13 points, six rebounds per game, respectively.
 
"It really comes down to execution. Mackin hit two contested 3's in guys' faces, so you just have to live with that. He is a great shooter. But, we just got to stay in attack mode," Parr said. "They went zone against us in the second half and we kind of got stagnant, so we just got to stay in attack mode and just be confident that we're the better team, and that we're going to get buckets on them."
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to take on the Red Dragons Saturday at 4 p.m. at Dewar Arena in Oneonta, NY.
 
"We got nine games left, we have to go through the SUNYAC one more time, but right now we're in great position to make the playoffs," English said. "We just got to keep it one game at a time, play our game and see how it goes."

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