For fifth-year State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball coach Keith Kenney, last year's 15-11 overall record, 11-7 SUNYAC mark and an appearance in the SUNYAC tournament semifinals were sweet. It was a good season, the best in nearly two decades for the Hawks. With 13 players returning from last year's squad, coupled with a few talented new faces, Kenney looks to make 2022-23 even sweeter with a run at the program's first conference championship.
 
"We definitely hit a lot of milestones, first time being back in the playoffs after a nine-year gap, hit the semis after however long that's been, but coming back this year, we can't be comfortable," said SUNY New Paltz senior forward and captain Isaiah Bien-Aise. "People thought it was a fluke, but we're just hungry ready to prove people that we're capable of going further than the semis and taking it home this year."
 
The Hawks jumps into their season Tuesday when they host United States Merchant Marine Academy. The Mariners are one of four teams on their schedule that saw postseason action last season, appearing in the ECAC DIII tournament.
 
Experience should guide SUNY New Paltz for 2022-23. Junior guard Rylan Blondo (Brooklyn, NY) broke out for the Hawks having a Player of the Year type-season before an ankle injury derailed the latter half of his individual season. Still, he earned First-Team All-SUNYAC honors after scoring 401 points for a 17.4 points per game average while shooting more than 50 percent from the floor. He added 143 rebounds, 62 assists and led the team with 48 steals while only playing in 23 of 26 games.
 
"That injury was a bummer, but it gave me a lot of motivation for this year. We healed it. Got a lot of rehab and got it stronger than ever and it's just [made me] hungrier for this year," Blondo said. "We definitely have all the tools, and we definitely have what it takes. The effort is there all the pieces, we're just putting it together. With this group of leaders and experience, I think taking that next step and getting that championship will definitely give us a better resume and have a better program."
 
Junior guard/forward Solomon Neuhaus (Plattsburgh, NY) started 24 of 26 games, adding 307 points and averaged 11.8 points per game with 47 rebounds and 33 assists, while shooting a productive 36 percent from 3-point range. He put up a 33-point performance against his hometown team in Plattsburgh State after going off from 3-point land, shooting 40 percent from the perimeter.
 
Isaiah Bien-Aise (Westbury, NY) averaged 9.5 points per game and pulled down 148 rebounds. He started 24 of 26 games, adding 13 blocks and 33 steals, and is one of the catalysts for the Hawks as the fifth year enters his final season with the team, along with fifth-year Brandon Scott who started playing his best basketball down the stretch of the 2022 season. The Mount Vernon, NY native averaged almost six points per game last season but ended the year with double-digit points in five of the last six games for SUNY New Paltz, while playing his signature defense as one of the Hawks best defenders.  
"I definitely resonate with the lows and the highs," Bien-Aise said. "Me being a fifth year and coming back to play my last and final year and just to see where the program has transcended over time. In the beginning, everything was new. New coaching staff, new players, bits and pieces and then leading up to today as you see what took place last year, now we actually have the framework, the coaching staff to get the job done."
 
Junior guard Sean St. Lucia (Niskayuna, NY) showed his promise in his first year of collegiate play. He started all 26 games, averaged 9.5 points pe game, added 29 steals and had a team-high of 127 assists with his career-high of 12 against the Cardinals placed him fourth in single-game program history. Not to be outdone in the record book is junior Tyreik Frazier (Westbury, NY). His 56 blocks last season put him third on the single season record list, as he also contributed 144 rebounds and averaged seven points per game while starting just five of 26 games.

Another first-year player from last season who made an impact was junior Lucas Seyoum (Clifton Park, NY). Seyoum started 21 of 25 games played, averaged nearly nine points and four rebounds per game with 15 blocks. Dakoda Smith (Southampton) was another first-year impact player, especially on the defensive side of the ball. He averaged about three rebounds per contest and finished with 13 steals and 10 blocks, while starting in three of 25 matchups.  Junior guard RJ Meyers-Turner (Uniondale, NY) added 122 points for nearly a five-points per game average, adding 33 rebounds, 35 assists and 27 steals while playing in all 25 games.
 
 
Other returning players primed to contribute in their sophomore seasons are guard Alex Krupinski (Middletown, NY) and forward Mitchell Cumings (Mount Sinai, NY), along with junior forward Jonah Bevaqua (Warwick, NY) who missed all of last year due to injury after transferring from Hunter College. The 6-foot, 8-inch Bevaqua was a three-time CUNY Player of the Week while with the Hunter, averaging 11.5 points per game and added 155 rebounds in his last collegiate season. He undoubtably will be a huge ad d for the Hawks in 2022-23.
 
"The huge core factor that's going to help us rotation wise is that we have a huge number of returners playing basketball, so the chemistry is already there," Bien-Aise said. "Now it's who really wants to compete, who's ready to put their best put forward at all times and who's ready to win a title, so that's where we're at right now."
 
Three new faces join the ranks for SUNY New Paltz in sophomore forward Xavier Mayo (Beacon, NY) and freshmen guards Thomas Keane (Staten Island, NY) and Oumar Sy (New York, NY). Mayo, a transfer from Division I NJIT, averaged about eight points per game in 228 minutes of action last season for the Highlanders. Keane, meanwhile, had an outstanding career at St. Peter's Boys High School, earning First-Team All-Staten Island CHSAA honors, while Sy walks onto the program to add depth to a veteran group that is looking to build off a SUNYAC semifinal appearance.
 
Success for the upcoming year will mean a run through a tough 18-game SUNYAC schedule. SUNY New Paltz finished 11-7 in conference play last season with its biggest in-season win coming against Oswego, which handed the Lakers their only conference loss of 2021-22. The Hawks' SUNYAC quarterfinal win over Cortland was monumental, as the victory moved the Hawks into the semifinals against top-seeded Oswego, was another key win putting them back into the semifinal round for the first time since 2003.
 
The Lakers return their top-six scorers from a year ago when they ran through the SUNYAC with a record of 17-1 and an overall mark of 27-3, making a run into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Oswego ranked first in the SUNYAC preseason poll and fifth in the D3Hoops National preseason poll. Other contenders look to be Cortland (14-12), Oneonta (13-5), Brockport (12-6) and Potsdam (10-8) as they all made the conference tournament a season ago, along with the Hawks.  
 
"We have a very high standard this year," Blondo said. "Coming off the loss in the semifinals, we're just all hungry. We all worked to where we are now and there's no excuses this year. Last year we had some guys who didn't even have a college year, so now everyone got a year under their belt. There's no excuses. We know we can do it and now it's a matter of seeing it, and doing it and achieving it, then moving onto the next stage."

Season Preview Featuring Isaiah Bien-Aise and Rylan Blondo


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