The State University of New York at New Paltz return to conference play this weekend when the Hawks hit the road to face SUNY Geneseo and The College at Brockport.
 
The last time the two teams met was back in early February 2020 when the Knights and Golden Eagles visited the Hawk Center and defeated SUNY New Paltz, 72-57 and 81-59, respectively to both sweep their season series over the Hawks.
 
SUNY New Paltz enters the weekend at 5-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play, looking to up its SUNYAC record with two more wins after securing its first two over Oneonta and Plattsburgh. The Hawks are coming off a 1-1 week at the Hat City Tournament where they played one of their best games of the season against tournament host Western Connecticut State, winning 86-79 in an efficient shooting night. They had five players in double-figures and as a team made nearly 58 percent from the floor, including 11-for-18 from 3-point range. They couldn't carry the same momentum into the following day, however, and made just 36 percent of their shots, including 4-of-28 from behind the arc. 
"We can't take anyone lightly. I know after we beat WestConn who was a solid team, we were really high up and thought we were just going to run through William Paterson, but they came out more ready to play than us. We weren't sticking to what coach told us to do and we ended up losing," said SUNY New Paltz sophomore guard Sean St. Lucia. "We're the best when we're moving the ball around, using each other. When our shots are falling our defense definitely travels. I think that's a strong suit for us this year, so when we're making shots and moving the ball with each other we're almost unstoppable."
 
Going up against a Geneseo team Friday that has allowed about 74 points per game and 44.4 percent from the field, SUNY New Paltz will try and duplicate its performance against WestConn offensively.
 
Rylan Blondo, who was named as the SUNYAC/PrestoSports Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week on Monday, leads the way offensively for the Hawks. The second-year guard is averaging career-high's in points per game (16.2), rebounds per game (6.9), assists per game (3.0) and shooting percentage (51.8%). Following him offensively is Solomon Neuhuas who has added about 14 points per game thanks to his lethal shooting touch from behind the perimeter where he's shooting nearly 37 percent, hitting a league-leading 27 shots from 3-point range. Second-year forward Tyreik Frazier has been the ultimate rim protector for SUNY New Paltz, totaling 26 blocks on the year already to lead the SUNYAC, while also averaging about six rebounds per game in about 21 minutes a contest.
 
The Knights go into the game at 5-4 overall as well but have won all three of their SUNYAC games thus far, defeating Fredonia, Buffalo State and SUNY Cortland in consecutive outings in early December. The team is led offensively by senior forward Michael Gannon with 17.6 points per game, playing nearly every minute averaging 36.6 minutes a contest. Fifth-year guard Terrance Nichols follows offensively, averaging more than 13 points per game, while shooting 40 percent from the floor, including 34.5 percent from 3-point range.
 
Also like the Hawks, Geneseo is coming off a split in its last two games. After coming away with a 66-61 win over Houghton, it fell at home to Hamilton on Monday, 76-65.
 
"Geneseo is going to be tough to guard," St. Lucia said. "They run their stuff throughout. They don't miss a lot of shots. They don't make a lot of mistakes. We just got to be really aggressive with them." 
Brockport enters the weekend at 8-2 overall and 3-1 in the SUNYAC. It defeated Fredonia, Cortland and Buffalo State, but fell to Oswego on the road by hefty margin of 85-58. Besides the Lakers, the Golden Eagles only other loss came in their season opener against Alfred University. With their game Jan. 3 canceled, the team hasn't seen the floor since its holiday tournament action in Daytona Beach, Florida when they won both games against Penn State Altoona and Piedmont University.
 
Jahidi Wallace leads the team with 15.2 points per game after starting all 10 games thus far. The 6-foot, 2-inch junior guard has been efficient from the field, shooting at a 53.3 percent clip, while pulling down nearly seven rebounds a contest. Mekhi Beckett follows offensively for Brockport, as the freshman guard is averaging 13.2 points per game on 44.2 percent shooting, while hitting a productive 46 percent (22-for-48) from behind the arc.
 
"Brockport we just got to be smart. They're a really athletic, attacking team so we just have to take care of the ball and take good shots," St. Lucia said.
 
As a team, the Golden Eagles are averaging more than 76 points a contest, hitting about 46 percent from the field and out-rebounding their opposition to a 43-38 per game margin. Defensively, they've allowed their opponents to hit just 35 percent, while forcing more than 17 turnovers per game.
 
"Geneseo and Brockport are both good teams," St. Lucia added. "It was kind of like the tournament what we're going to be expecting, because they're two very different teams. We just got to remember to play Friday against Geneseo and be able to flip it around and do what coaches tell us."
 
SUNY New Paltz is set to tip-off against Brockport Saturday at 4 p.m. at Jim and John Vlogianitis Gymnasium after going up against the Knights Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

Weekend Preview Featuring Sean St. Lucia

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