The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team travels to Brooklyn Wednesday night to meet the Bears of St. Joseph College-Brooklyn. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. in the Hill Center on the SJC-Brooklyn campus. The Hawks and the Bears have met once before, in the 2019-20 season, with SUNY New Paltz earning a 67-60 win at the Hawk Center.

St. Joseph-Brooklyn stands 0-8 overall and 0-3 in Skyline Conference play on the young season. The Bears are averaging 60.1 points per game on 36 percent shooting and 18.7 percent from 3-point range. They are averaging 43 rebounds per game and 12 assists per game.

Leading the Bears is 6-foot, 5-inch senior forward Chris Mikos (Freehold, NJ). Mikos is averaging 20 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, tops for SJC. He has been the Bears leading scorer in six of their eight games and tops in rebounds in four of eight games. He has two double-doubles thus far, with a game-high of 29 points and 16 rebounds against Mitchell College. 

Also contributing for the Bears is 5'9 junior guard Evan Sirakis (Hollis Hills, NY), averaging 10.1 points and 2.8 assists per game. In the loss to Medgar Evers, Sirakis dished out a season-high eight assists. John Sheehan (Staten Island, NY), a 6'8 junior forward, is averaging 5.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, with a season high of nine rebounds against Yeshiva. Two sophomores, 6'4 forward Samid Melo (Brooklyn, NY) and 6'2 guard/forward Emmanuel Coffey (Marlboro, NJ) are averaging 4.5 points and 2.3 and 2.8 rebounds per game, respectively. Melo scored a team leading 22 points in the loss to St. Joseph-Long Island. Chris Williams, a 6'0 first-year guard (Trenton, NJ), has kicked in three points per game and senior guard/forward, 6'3 Richie Simon (Brooklyn, NY) pulled down 17 rebounds in the loss to Medgar Evers.

The Hawks are coming off a split SUNYAC North Country weekend, dropping a close 75-72 decision to Potsdam, then bouncing back to a commanding 96-77 victory over Plattsburgh to even their record to 3-3 overall, with a 2-1 SUNYAC mark.

Tops for SUNY New Paltz is 6'4 sophomore guard/forward Solomon Neuhaus (Plattsburgh, NY). His 15.5 scoring average was enhanced by his career performance against Plattsburgh; his 33 points came on 12-for-20 overall and 7-for-13 shooting from the 3-point line. Sophomore guard, 6'0 Rylan Blondo (Brooklyn, NY) adds 14.8 points per game and leads the Hawks with 6.8 rebounds per game and will have his own homecoming game against the Bears.

Sophomore 5'9 guard R.J. Meyers-Turner (Uniondale, NY) and 6'5 junior forward Isaiah Bien-Aise (Westbury, NY) follow with eight points per game. Three other sophomores have contributed to the Hawks' success. Forward Lucas Seyoum (Clifton Park, NY) averages 7.7 points per game with 11 points against Plattsburgh. Forward Tyreik Frazier (Westbury, NY) averages 7.2 points, six rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game; against Plattsburgh Frazier had six blocks, his second career six block night, a feat done only by two previous Hawks. Sean St. Lucia (Niskayuna, NY), SUNY New Paltz's 6'2 starting point guard, is hitting at seven points per game and leads the team with 32 assists. His 12 assists against Plattsburgh tied the fourth best single game assist mark.

*********************
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.