New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz rolled to a convincing 88-68 win over visiting Fredonia Friday to improve to 5-2 in the SUNYAC.
 
The Hawks (7-5 overall, 4-2 SUNYAC) faced a winless Blue Devils team (0-13, 0-6) that entered the weekend's double-header without having played basketball since Dec. 11. SUNY New Paltz didn't waste time getting on top of Fredonia and after the visitors scored the opening points of the period, proceeded to score seven of the next nine points of the half and started breaking the game open midway through the period.  
 
"We were a little tired from last night and Lucas [Seyoum] was out for us, so we really stressed coming out and not being complacent and coming out intense right away, and I think we did," said Hawks coach Keith Kenney. "We were great defensively the first 5-10 minutes of the game and then we started scoring and that allowed us to get a lot of guys in earlier. I was really pleased with their effort to start the game and get going."
 
After Malik Jemison cut the difference to two with 15 minutes to go, SUNY New Paltz scored 10 unanswered points to bring its lead to double figures with the Blue Devils not scoring a field goal for nearly seven minutes of the stretch.
 
Kenney went to his bench early once his team secured a 10-point advantage with his young reserves contributing in extending the cushion. RJ Meyers-Turner added two from the foul line before Isaiah Bien-Aise hit back-to-back shots to push the lead to 15. Dakoda Smith added on after an offensive put-back with Bien-Aise swishing from 3-point range following a Blue Devils turnover. Smith continued his tenacity under the basket and earned two free throws from the charity stripe and connected on a strong finish in the paint two minutes later to boost the lead to 24. 
"That's been a goal of ours just to get a big win," Kenney said. "We haven't had big blowout wins or losses. We've always had some close games, so a lot of these guys deserve to play there's just so many minutes. I was really happy with Dakoda playing more minutes and Jackson [Vertucci] and Phil [La Rosa] and Mitch [Cumings] coming in giving us some good minutes. So yeah, all the guys that came in [contributed]. They work hard in practice and they do well in practice. We just have some guys in front of them, but they're all elite players. So it was good to see them get on the court."
 
SUNY New Paltz's largest advantage came in the second half as Rylan Blondo earned the steal in the front court and finished in transition push the score to 70-32. Fredonia never came close to the lead and the Hawks finished out with the 20-point victory.
 
All 14 active players for Kenney's squad saw action including freshman Alex Krupinski who scored his first points of his collegiate career, netting five points in five minutes. Blondo ultimately finished with a team-high 20 points in just 21 minutes, hitting 8-for-11 from the field with three rebounds, three steals and an assist. Bien-Aise followed with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting with three rebounds, an assist, a block and two steals. Smith had a productive day as well, recording 12 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
 
The Hawks were efficient offensively, knocking down 47.8 percent from the field after hitting nearly 55 percent in the second half and 11-for-29 from 3-point range in the game. Their bench contributed in 26 of their final 88 points. Defensively, SUNY New Paltz kept Fredonia less than 37 percent shooting from the field and just 26 percent from the perimeter where the Blue Devils connected on 7-of-27 attempts. Additionally, the Hawks forced 20 turnovers on 13 steals to help spark easy fast break baskets with 17 points coming in transition.
 
"We felt like we had the ability to guard them and that would lead to easy run-outs on offense, and it did," Kenney said. "I think guys defended that first section of the first half, but yeah that was the plan. Defend them well and hopefully that would lead to some offense and that would extend the lead."
 
Up next for the Hawks is a road matchup against SUNY Oneonta Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 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.