New Paltz, NY —  The State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball team won its first of three consecutive games when it defeated the Golden Eagles by a score of 90-78 Friday.

The Hawks won their next two contests 89-75 against Buffalo State and 88-68 against Fredonia State before losing to SUNY Oneonta 71-54 on Jan. 18. Friday night, SUNY New Paltz had their second and final matchup of the season against SUNY Brockport, this time at home, holding off the feisty road team by a score of 78-75. 
 
"I was happy that we grinded it out," said Hawk head coach Keith Kenney. "It wasn't necessarily pretty but I think we showed a lot of toughness in getting the win." 
 
Both teams came out with high energy, as the Hawks cut off the Golden Eagles' driving lane. This did not stop the road team from being aggressive though, as both teams played active defense, forcing each other into early turnovers. Isaiah Bien-Aise got a steal which led to two Rylan Blondo free throws after he was fouled driving to the basket to put the Hawks on the board first. SUNY Brockport senior Devante Hagins scored on the other end to tie the score at two in what was a microcosm of the game early on with both teams pushing the pace. 
 
The Hawks scored five quick points on a Lucas Seyoum three pointer, three of his 16 points on the night, and a Solomon Neuhaus layup that came off a beautiful pass from Sean St. Lucia to give them a 9-4 lead early on. 
 
The Eagles' Mekhi Beckett, who came into the game second on his team in scoring averaging 13.7 points per game and tied Blondo in the contest with a game-high 25 points, responded by scoring SUNY Brockport's next seven points as they led 17-12 with 12:59 left in the half. The visitors went up by as many as seven in the opening 20 minutes, taking a 23-16 lead after Tyreik Frazier was stripped and Haggins, who scored 19 points on an efficient 8-of-12 shooting, finished at the other end. 
 
The Hawks battled back though, as RJ Meyers-Turner provided a major spark off the bench, hitting back-to-back threes that trimmed what was a seven point lead down to two, 28-26. The momentum began to shift in favor of SUNY New Paltz, as Seyoum tied the game at 28 with a layup and Blondo hit a pull up to give the Hawks a 30-28 lead. 
 
Brandon Scott provided the highlight of the half with a major block that careened off the backboard, leading to five straight points from Seyoum. Meyers-Turner again made his presence felt with a steal and layup. He finished with nine points in the game on 3-of-6 from the field, making two out of three attempts from beyond the arc.
 
"He had a really important 20 minutes for us," said Kenney of his sophomore guard. "I thought RJ played a super smart game. He took shots when he needed to, he broke that press in the second half. We're looking for big things from him moving forward."  
Blondo then hit a layup as he fell to the floor, giving the Hawks a 39-32 lead at the half. 
 
The Golden Eagles employed a half court trap to begin the second half and played strong defense that initially stymied the Hawks. The two teams struggled to score, with both playing solid on the defensive side of the ball. 
 
SUNY New Paltz got going though, and opened up a 10 point lead after a Blondo lay in, a free throw make from Meyers-Turner and a jumper from Neuhaus. That made it 50-40, and the Hawks once again led by 10 with 9:30 remaining in the game, when Blondo, who was successful all evening getting into the midrange, hit a jumper to make it 60-50 for the home team. 
 
"It's hard to run really good plays against Brockport, and sometimes we just have to rely on a guy to break them down and get in the lane, and Rylan is very good at that," said Kenney. "He hit some really big pull ups in the lane that stemmed the tide." 
 
At that point, it looked like the Hawks would run away with the victory. The Golden Eagles, though, fought back. 
 
"We got a little sloppy, I thought we could've pushed the lead out a little bigger, but give them credit they hit a bunch of timely threes that cut that lead back down." 
 
Many of those timely threes came from Beckett, who hit from deep to make it 60-55, and then a three from senior Brandon Kennedy-Gay cut the lead to four after a Blondo layup. St. Lucia found Blondo on a cut, and Frazier emphatically blocked a shot with SUNY New Paltz up six. It was one of the 6 foot, 6 inch sophomore's five blocks in the game. 

"Tyreik is unique where he can get out and guard smaller guards, and he was doing that when they were driving on him and he would meet them at the rim," said Kenney. "He has that quickness where he can play perimeter guys but also block shots. He helped us get stops so we didn't fall behind." 
 
On the ensuing possession, Scott attacked the basket, falling hard but converting on both free throws to make it 66-58. The Hawks got the lead up to nine with 5:53 to go on St. Lucia free throws, but SUNY Brockport again came back, this time keeping it close the rest of the way. 
 
Hagins hit a three to make it 72-66, and then Beckett hit twice from downtown to tie the game at 72 with 2:19 to go. Seyoum hit two foul shots with 1:48 remaining that put the Hawks up two, and Kennedy-Gay missed from downtown with 1:06 remaining. After a Seyoum miss and a deflection that went off Bien-Aise, the Golden Eagles had a chance to tie it, but David Grady III was unable to convert on an inbound lob. Blondo was fouled with 28.8 seconds remaining and made one of two from the line, providing SUNY Brockport still with a chance. Guard Tony Arnold, who picked up 94 feet in the second half defensively and played solid defense throughout, hit front rim on a three ball that bounced over the backboard with 14 seconds left. Scott turned the ball over on the next possession, but Bien-Aise wound up with a clutch steal. He hit one of two free throws to make it a five point game, 77-72.
 
The clutch play of Beckett emerged once again though, as he hit another three, this one a bank, one of his four made threes on the evening. It was too little too late though, as St. Lucia provided the proverbial nail in the coffin with a free throw with 0.9 seconds remaining, as he finished the game with five points. A last second three from Golden Eagle guard Antonio Alvarez was short.
 
In addition to Blondo's 25 points and Seyoum's 16, Neuhaus was the other Hawk to finish in double figures, scoring 10. For SUNY Brockport, who dropped to 10-5 with the loss, Kennedy-Gay was the third player in double figures for them as he scored 11. Despite shooting 38% from the field on the night, the Golden Eagles were red hot from three, hitting 11 of 21 attempts for 52%. Conversely, the Hawks shot 5-of-22. 
 
"We didn't necessarily play our best game, but they're the defending champs, and any time you beat a team like Brockport you have to be happy," said Kenney. 
 
With the win, the Hawks, who shot 43% in the game, improved to 9-6, and have now won four of their last five heading into tomorrow's 4 p.m. game against SUNY Geneseo. 
 
"They're a different team," Kenney said of the second place Knights, who defeated the Hawks 77-75 on Jan. 7 and are 8-5 overall with a 6-1 SUNYAC record. "We're excited to play them. It's definitely something where we felt we can certainly compete with them. They play a completely different style and we have to shift and pivot and be ready for completely different things. It will be a tough matchup. They are playing really well right now." 
 
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