Fredonia, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz bounced back Monday following a loss 24 hours earlier at the hands of Buffalo State to earn an 89-75 victory on the road over Fredonia Monday.
 
The Hawks were propelled by an explosive second half where they out-scored the Blue Devils, 52-39 and shot nearly 55 percent from the field.
 
"We did not play well this weekend defensively, but I am happy to get the road win," said SUNY New Paltz coach Keith Kenney. "We did play better in the second half and attacked and got great contributions from Brandon [Scott], Tyreik [Frazier], Lucas [Seyoum], and Sean [St. Lucia] and Rylan [Blondo] as well. We found some pick-n-roll actions that were working and we stuck with it."
 
SUNY New Paltz extended a 10-point lead midway through the first half, keeping Fredonia to just seven points in the first eight minutes. The hosts started gaining their footing offensively and worked their way back to tie the game at 32 after a 25-15 run in the following five minutes. The Blue Devils' Aaron Collins capped the stretch with a make from the perimeter with about four minutes to go in the half. Solomon Neuhaus answered with two points in the paint and added one more a possession later after hitting 1-of-2 from the foul line, but Fredonia countered with a trip to the charity stripe of their own where they made both. Kreem George then pushed Fredonia back up by one with a finish in the lane. Sean St. Lucia had the final points of the half as he got his bucket to go with seconds ticking down and gave SUNY New Paltz a 37-36 lead heading into the break. 
The Blue Devils held a brief advantage at the start of the second half following another triple from Collins, but the Hawks countered with a 6-0 run thanks to Lucas Seyoum who scored every point in the stretch to hand his team back control, which they never relinquished the rest of the way. George put an end to the unanswered run, but Seyoum answered once again, getting fouled from behind the arc and connecting on each of his free throws to bring the cushion to six with still 16-plus minutes remaining.
 
Fredonia stuck around and trimmed the deficit to as close as five at the 10-minute mark, but SUNY New Paltz started to push tempo and quickly ballooned the advantage to 10 in the following minute, 30 seconds. Frazier got the streak started with a dunk in transition thanks to a feed from St. Lucia. St. Lucia pushed again following a defensive rebound, resulting to a trip to the foul line for the big-man Frazier who made both. Collins scored to cut the difference to seven, but Rylan Blondo earned an and-1 as he attacked the basket next time down the floor and officially dug the hole back to 10. The Blue Devils trimmed the lead to five once more with 5:44 to go, but the Hawks did a good job of withstanding the push and answered with points on its next three possessions with St. Lucia the beneficiary on back-to-back buckets by Blondo and Frazier.
 
Brandon Scott subbed in off the bench and helped put the game away for SUNY New Paltz. He netted a 3 with 3:33 to play to create a 11-point advantage following two makes from the foul line by Collins. He scored next time down the floor with St. Lucia finding him inside to create a 13-point cushion. The Hawks maintained the double-digit lead the rest of the way and ultimately closed out with the 14-point victory.
 
Blondo narrowly netted his fourth double-double and second 20-plus, 10-rebound game of the season after finishing with 26 points (10-19) and nine rebounds, along with three assists and two steals in 35 minutes. Seyoum followed with 16 points, three rebounds and a steal, while St. Lucia recorded his first double-double of his career, ending with 12 points and game-high 11 assists, along with six rebounds and a steal. Frazier chipped in with 14 points, three rebounds and three blocks off the bench.
 
SUNY New Paltz has a short break before its next slate of SUNYAC action, as it hosts Oswego State and SUNY Cortland in the Hawk Center Friday and Saturday, respectively.

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