New Paltz, NY — An offensive onslaught propelled a dominant 104-58-win Tuesday night for the State University of New York at New Paltz over visiting John Jay College in the Hawk Center.
 
The Hawks (6-1 overall, 2-0 SUNYAC) hit a season-high in points, shooting percentage from the floor and from the perimeter, shooting 54.5 and 51.6 percent respectively, along with 3-pointers (16) and field goals (42) made.
 
"Our offense has been struggling shooting from 3, and it's just huge to get back into the groove this game," said SUNY New Paltz junior Lucas Seyoum. "It feels pretty good to get back into the groove of things and get ready for these out of conference games and get ready for the rest of SUNYAC play."
 
The Bloodhounds (3-6, 0-1 CUNYAC) held a slight 9-5 advantage at the start with Hawks coach Keith Kenney calling a quick timeout to regroup his team three minutes in. The Hawks responded immediately as A.J. Knight swished from 3-point range, followed by back-to-back 3's by Sean St. Lucia sandwiched between a nice dish from the senior point guard to a cutting Rylan Blondo to swiftly bump SUNY New Paltz ahead, 23-14 within a five-minute span.
 
The Hawks began to roll, as they continued to get hot from the perimeter. They went 8-for-10 on their first 10 attempts from the arc. St. Lucia led the charge, going 3-for-4 from 3-point range with Seyoum adding two from distance and Kobe Bogart, Knight and Ethan St. Lucia all knocking down a trey in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Ethan St. Lucia checked in midway through the first half and made an instant impact, as his pull-up 3 extended SUNY New Paltz's lead to double figures with 10:48 to play. Next time down the floor, St. Lucia slipped a pass through a double-team to find Dakoda Smith for a dunk underneath to boost the advantage.
 
 
Solomon Neuhaus then added on off the bench, swishing his first attempt from 3-point range to push the score to 31-18 before adding another trey on a broken play to extend the score to 34-19.
 
John Jay worked its way within 11 but Kenney inserted his starters back in, which helped stall the Bloodhounds momentum with SUNY New Paltz ending the last four minutes on a 10-2 run to build a 50-27 advantage at halftime. Sean St. Lucia led the way for the Hawks at the break, registering 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and a block in 15 minutes.
 
SUNY New Paltz never let go of the comfortable cushion in the second half with its bench taking care of the win as it built a 40-point lead. Alex Krupinski gave the Hawks their first 40-point advantage with back-to-back buckets in the paint, capping the run with a nice left-handed drive and finish at the hoop to push the score to 85-43 with more than eight minutes left. Seyoum then added three more, as he drained a trey from the corner and earned the foul — his second four-point play of the night to help in the rout.
 
"Felt amazing, my teammates hyping me up and everything. I couldn't ask for anything better," Seyoum said. "I just needed to see one drop and then I got the confidence back and started shooting and it was huge."
 
Neuhuas put the finishing touches after he got the home crowd on their feet after pulling up for a transition 3 before finishing with an emphatic dunk on the break to boost the lead to 99-54. Jack Allen capped the scoring for SUNY New Paltz as he buried the team's 16th 3-pointer of the night to mark his first basket as a Hawk.
 
Every player from the Hawks stepped on the floor and contributed with each registering at least two points with six players reaching double figures. Their bench was credited for 47 points on the night led by Neuhaus with 13, followed by Seyoum with 12 with the pair both shooting 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Blondo, Bogart and Tyreik Frazier all finished with 13 as well with Blondo adding a team-high six rebounds and five assists with two steals, while Sean St. Lucia finished with a game-high seven assists to go along with four boards, a block and 11 points.
 
"This season we picked up a lot of talent, but everyone fits in really well and everyone is really selfless, so it makes it easy for a lot of guys to get involved in scoring that's why we had so many guys in double digits," Seyoum said.
 
SUNY New Paltz returns to the Hawk Center to complete its three-game home stand, facing Misericordia Friday night at 7 p.m. before hosting Hunter College Saturday at 4 p.m.
 
"We have to be mentally mature. That's what it's all about," Seyoum added. "Just because we won by 50 today doesn't mean we're not going to lose this weekend. We've got Misericordia who is a very good team. They beat Mount Saint Mary by 50-points where we beat them by 15, so you know, we have to be head strong and we have to stay focused for the next couple games."

Post-Game Featuring Lucas Seyoum


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