The State University of New York at New Paltz returns to the Hawk Center this weekend, hosting Buffalo State and Fredonia Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The Hawks (4-10 overall, 0-7 SUNYAC) are coming off a tough three-game road stretch where they were unable to bring home their first conference win of the season. They started the weekend in Western New York, taking on SUNY Geneseo and the College at Brockport. Both games were tight for 30 minutes or so, but runs by the oppositions midway through the second half opened up the game and resulted in double-digit point losses on both nights.

SUNY New Paltz narrowly came away with a comeback victory over SUNY Cortland Tuesday, overcoming a 21-point deficit to trim the lead to six with about 20 seconds left in the game. The Hawks came up just short of the rally, however, as the Red Dragons made enough at the line down the stretch to put the game away.

"This past week we showed a lot of heart on the court," said SUNY New Paltz sophomore forward Isaiah Bien-Aise. "Even though we were losing in the stretch, we didn't give up and we were always playing until the last minute and the last second. I feel like if we bring that energy it can uplift this team to get a victory." The Hawks have an opportunity to steal a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) win Friday over a Bengals team who is also going through a losing slump. Buffalo State has lost five-straight, including six of its last seven games. It did come away with its only SUNYAC win of the season Dec. 7 against Fredonia State, but has since lost consecutive games and has yet to claim a victory in 2020.

"These two games coming up is very important, because unfortunately, we are 0-7 in the conference right now and this can either make or break our season," Bien-Aise said. "So the next two games coming up Friday and Saturday are really important, because this could actually be the start of something special."

The Bengals narrowly came away with their second conference win of the season this past weekend against Plattsburgh State. In a tight second half, Buffalo State held a three-point lead with about 30 seconds remaining in regulation. The Cardinals tied the game in the final half minute and forced extra time where they out-scored the Bengals, 15-13 to claim the win. They then suffered their fifth conference loss of the season the following day against SUNY Potsdam, 99-75.

On the season, Sheldon Adams leads the team with 18.7 points per game, shooting 37.2 percent on the year, while also pulling down about six rebounds to go along with four assists a contest. Adams, Kay Grant, Jordan Christopher and Aaron Davis have started all 10 games for the Bengals with each averaging double-figure points. Grant and Christopher lead the team on the glass, totaling 17 boards per game combined. Davis joins Adams as the team's assist leader, averaging nearly six per game.

As a team, Buffalo State scores about 80 points an outing, but give up a SUNYAC-worst 86.7 points against. The Bengals shoot around 40 percent, while allowing the opposition to hit more than 46 percent from the floor.

"For Buffalo State [Friday], I feel like they are going to try to come in and take over our gym," Bien-Aise said. "Even though they are struggling with their record as well, they still have a couple of wins against us. I just feel that we just need to stay poised and hungry, and we can take it."

The Blue Devils, meanwhile, split their Cardinals-Bears weekend after earning a 77-63 victory over Plattsburgh State Jan. 18. They also took a 64-62 victory a week prior over SUNY Geneseo to sit above the Cardinals, Bengals and Hawks in the conference standings.
Dydy Bryan paces the team offensively, averaging 15.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game to go along with a team-best 4.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game. De'Quan Smith follows with 13 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.7 steals a contest.

Fredonia puts up about 68 points per game, while yielding nearly 73 points against, allowing its opponents to shoot 44 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range.

"As far as Saturday for Fredonia, they have a couple wins as well, but they are both similar teams," Bien-Aise said. "... They're both scrappy. They both try to get in your face, clap it up and stuff like that. So we just got to keep our heads, keep that hunger, keep that motivation and keep that energy, and we're going to be successful."

For the Hawks, they've put up about 70.7 points per game, while shooting 39 percent and allowed nearly 80 points against with the opposition shooting 43 percent. Tristan Wissemann has led the team with 14.4 points per game, but Bien-Aise was the catalyst in the team's most recent outing against the Red Dragons Tuesday, totaling a career-high 26 points and 10 rebounds per game.

"Even though I had a nice night the other day it really didn't matter," Bien Aise said. "I'd rather have two points and get a victory, than get like 26 and a loss. That's just my personal prospective on it, but I feel like the energy that I brought should definitely carry over to this weekend, because we are definitely going to need it, and these games are really, really important."

SUNY New Paltz is set to face the Blue Devils Saturday in the Hawk Center at 4:30 p.m. after taking on the Bengals Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

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