NEW PALTZ, NY — Coming off of one of the biggest wins in program history Friday night, the State University of New York at New Paltz men's basketball looked to ride that momentum into Saturday's game against SUNY Cortland and earn their third-straight victory. Unfortunately for the Hawks, the Red Dragons had other plans, utilizing their star player throughout the game and deadeye perimeter shooting in the second half that helped them to a 82-71 double-digit victory. 
 
"We didn't play as smart a game as we played last night," said SUNY New Paltz coach Keith Kenney after the loss. "We left guys open and we just couldn't find an offensive flow. I thought our starters played well, we just seemed a little tired. We didn't have much bounce in our step." 
 
One of the keys for SUNY New Paltz going into the contest was to contain Cortland's star Austin Grunder, who scored 39 in the last matchup between the two teams and was averaging 20 points and 11.3 rebounds coming into Saturday's game. SUNY New Paltz did a good job on Grunder to start, as the forward made just one of his four attempts from the field, although a transition layup gave him his fourth point of the game and he started to find his groove. 
 
With the Hawks up 16-14 after a Lucas Seyoum 3, Grunder drove strong and laid the ball up to give him eight points. Brandon Scott and Dakoda Smith responded with two points apiece to push SUNY New Paltz to a 20-16 lead. 
 
 
Grunder finished strong inside and scored his team's next seven points with a series of backdoor cuts and off ball movement to give the Red Dragons a 23-22 edge. At the other end, Seyoum responded with a solid pump fake to get Grunder in the air, sidestepped the forward and hit another 3. Grunder once again drove though, and drew a foul to earn a trip to the oful line where he made both free throw attempts, tying the game at 25. Sean St. Lucia gave the Hawks a 31-28 lead after hitting a layup, but Grunder hit a driving layup, the last of his 19 first-half points, to cut the Hawks lead to one, 31-30, at half. 
 
It was not the prettiest half shooting the ball, as the Red Dragons, aside from Grunder, made just four of 18 attempts, and SUNY New Paltz made just 11-of-28 shots. Both teams only managed three 3-point makes in the half, with Cortland shooting 16 and the Hawks shooting 11. 
 
The Red Dragons' Kareem Lubin had a strong start to the second half. He scored inside on a dribble drive, and then just moments later found Grunder on a backdoor cut to give Cortland a 36-35 lead. At the other end, Seyoum countered with a triple to put the Hawks up 38-36. 
Scott, who had 14 points in Friday's victory and added 14 more in Saturday's contest with eight rebounds, provided similar energy Saturday that he did on Friday. He scored four points inside, which was a part of a sequence that put the home team ahead 44-41 with 14:55 remaining in the game. After Red Dragon head coach Tom Spanbauer was hit with a technical foul for arguing a call, Solomon Neuhaus made both ensuing free throws and St. Lucia scored inside to put SUNY New Paltz up seven at 48-41. 
 
Cortland responded with a 13-0 scoring run with Grunder scoring five points, while AJ Lawton hit two 3-pointers, which accounted for six of his 15 points in the game. 
 
"It was a backbreaker," said Kenney. "We had the game close and then [Lawton] just put them up." 
 
Lawton extended the road team's lead to seven moments later at 57-50, and although Neuhaus responded with a right-handed drive to cut the deficit to five, the Hawks never got that close the rest of the way. They were forced into playing the foul game in the last couple of minutes as the Red Dragons earned the 11-point win. 
 
Grunder once again led his team in scoring and rebounding, putting up 33 points on 13-for-23 shooting with nine boards, and played all 40 minutes. Lawton's 15 points and Danny Linehan's 11 aided Grunder's effort. 
 
"It's kind of pick your poison," Kenney said. "You send help to Grunder and guard the 3-point line and play one-on-one, and ultimately it burned us. 
 
For SUNY New Paltz, Seyoum made 5-of-10 3-point shots on his way to 15 points, while St. Lucia scored 12 and had eight rebounds. Neuhaus made two 3-pointers and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line, scoring a team-high 16 points. 
Despite improving their second half field-goal percentage to 45 percent, shooting 42 percent for the game, the Hawks offense could not match the 59 percent output in the second half from Cortland. SUNY New Paltz did however have a 32-26 edge in points in the paint. 
 
"I thought Cortland outplayed us," said Kenney. "We were struggling to score the entire game. They defended us well. We just couldn't find a way to score consistently." 
 
In addition to their 59 percent shooting in the second, the Red Dragons shot 50 percent from 3-point range, making 6-of-12 attempts. For the game, they made 9-of-28 from beyond the arc. 
 
"In the second half they just hit a bunch of 3's that put them over the top," Kenney continued. "They're a better team than their record and they played really well." 
 
Next up for the now 13-9 Hawks, whose SUNYAC record stands at 10-6, is Plattsburgh and Potsdam. The game against the Cardinals is a 7:30 p.m. start Feb. 18 in the Hawk Center and they will tip off against the Bears the following day at 4 p.m.
 
"The good news is we still have a shot at the two seed or the three seed," said Kenney of where the team stands heading into their last two regular season games next weekend. "We have a lot of stuff ahead of us."

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