Although the State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team dropped its most recent matchup against league-leading Oswego State Tuesday, the Hawks remain confident heading into their last conference road weekend of the regular season.
 
Winning five of its last seven games, SUNY New Paltz has an opportunity to better solidify its playoff standing with a pair of wins over The College at Brockport and SUNY Geneseo Friday and Saturday.
 
"Extremely confident, because I believe we're on a roll right now," said Hawks freshman guard Dylan Fraser. "We're 3-1 in our last four [games]. We beat some good teams and we're on a roll right now, so we're looking forward to this weekend." 
 
When the Golden Eagles and Knights came into the Hawk Center in early January, both games came down to the wire. Against Brockport, the Hawks were in control for most of the game and saw their lead extend to double-figures with seven minutes left in regulation. However, they couldn't close out what would have been a statement win, as the Golden Eagles got hot from the perimeter, while SUNY New Paltz struggled at the foul line, to steal away a 65-63 victory.
  
Following the two-point loss against Brockport, the Hawks played another tight game the next day against the Knights. Like against the Golden Eagles, SUNY New Paltz held on to the lead for the majority of the game and went ahead by as many as 13 with 10 minutes left in the game. But, with both teams in foul trouble and each going into the bonus midway through the second half, it benefited SUNY Geneseo, which slowly chipped away at the deficit.
 
The Knights tied the game at 65 with about a minute left, but neither team found another basket in regulation to force overtime. The Hawks then held off Geneseo with Cory Garcia hitting a late bucket to push the lead to four, which stood until the final buzzer, giving SUNY New Paltz the win.

"We definitely have to improve on our defensive intensity. I feel like we got lackadaisical at times," Fraser said. "Geneseo, especially we won by one in OT and Brockport we lost in the last five minutes. We just have to improve our intensity down the stretch overall." Since then, the Hawks took a tough loss at home against SUNY Cortland, but had a solid weekend against Buffalo State and Fredonia State to help booster their positioning in the State University Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) standings.
 
Despite falling to the Lakers Tuesday, which held SUNY New Paltz to its lowest scoring output of the season, the Hawks still hold the sixth and final spot in the conference playoffs. The Golden Eagles currently sit fourth, while the Knights are at the bottom of the conference in ninth.
 
"We have to score the ball. I think we only had [46] points and that's not going to do the job against any team in the SUNYAC conference," Fraser said. "We always talk about our potential as a program. In the past, we haven't been so good, and we're really turning it around right now. We just have to keep our heads focused on winning games one-by-one right now."
 
Brockport lost three-straight before its 107-50 rout of Fredonia State Tuesday. Justin Summers leads the team with 18.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
 
Meanwhile, the Knights are on a three-game losing skid with their last win coming Jan. 22 against Fredonia State. Terrance Nichols and Zack Panebianco lead SUNY Geneseo with 15.4 and 13.3 points per game.
 
For the Hawks, Tristan Wissemann and Scott Reisert lead the team offensively, 14.9 and 12.3 points per game, respectively.
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to take on Brockport Friday at 7:30 p.m. and then SUNY Geneseo Saturday at 4 p.m.

To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on Twitter at @nphawks, Instagram and Facebook at @newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our Youtube channel, New Paltz Hawks.