It's a whole new year for eighth year SUNY New Paltz men's basketball coach Keith Kenney. After a record setting 2023-24 season, which saw the Hawks win the SUNYAC Championship and appear in the NCAA DIII tournament for the first time in their 96 years of basketball history and set records for wins in a season with 20 and wins in a SUNYAC season with 12, the new season looks to be a new obstacle for the New Paltz men's basketball program.

Gone are six players from last season's championship team, including two of the top three scorers and the top two rebounders from a year ago. Team cohesion was a hallmark of last season and while nine players return who contributed over 2,600 minutes of playing time between them, it will be how quickly Coach Kenney's six new recruits can adapt to the college game and team expectations.

"We definitely lost a lot of key pieces from last year — a lot of key contributions to the team, but we did bring a lot of new talent and a lot of fresh legs willing to come in and compete and bring whatever they have to give," said Hawks senior co-captain Dakoda Smith.

A challenging non-conference schedule, which includes a pre-New Year's trip to the 14th Annual D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas against Hardin-Simmons University and University of Redlands, pits the Hawks against five of seven teams who saw postseason action last year. Coupled with a rugged 18-game SUNYAC schedule means SUNY New Paltz will need to be sharp and focused from the get-go if it is to achieve the success it found in 2023-24.

Statistically last season, the Hawks averaged 76.4 points per game, allowing 68.3 points against for a plus-8.1 scoring margin. SUNY New Paltz held a slight rebounding margin of plus-1 (36.9-35.9). The Hawks averaged 14.6 assists per game and held a highly respectable plus-5 margin in scoring off turnovers (17.7-12.7).
 
Leading the charge for success in 2024-25 is senior guard A.J. Knight (6'1" /Lakeview, NY/Holy Trinity Diocesan HS). Knight, an All-SUNYAC First Team pick a year ago, started all 28 games, playing 883 minutes and topped SUNY New Patz in scoring with a 13 points per game, shooting 40.4 percent from the 3-point line. He also added 73 assists and 42 steals and played some of his best basketball late in the season, averaging 14 points per game ending the calendar year with a career-high 30-point performance against his former team in the Fredonia Blue Devils to start the stretch. 
 
 
Fourth year player Sean St. Lucia (6'2" G/Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna HS) has started all 77 of 77 he has suited up through his career for SUNY New Paltz, missing just three games over the course of three seasons as a Hawk. Last year, St. Lucia continued being a vital part in facilitating the offense as he averaged 8.7 points per game with 101 rebounds, a team-leading 94 assists and 31 steals in 739 minutes of court time.  
"Obviously, we got the confidence from winning the championship, but nothing has really changed," St. Lucia said. "Our mentality is the same every day, follow what coaches say, go hard every day, every rep and try to get better and come together."
 
Playing his fourth season for SUNY New Paltz, Alex Krupinski (6'2" G/Middletown, NY/Minisink Valley HS) had 495 minutes of court time, averaging 8.5 points per game with 50 rebounds, 20 assists and 18 steals. Entering his fourth year as well is Ethan St. Lucia (6'5" W/Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna HS) who pulled down 101 rebounds with nine blocks in 434 minutes of play, averaging three points per game. Fourth year Dakoda Smith (6'3" w/Shinnecock Indian Reservation/Southampton HS) saw 415 minutes of play averaging 5.5 points per game with 79 rebounds, 32 assists, 29 steals and 22 blocks.

Rounding out the Hawks' fourth year lineup is Lucas Seyoum (6'5" W/Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa HS) who saw 251 minutes on the court, averaging 3.2 points per game with 42 rebounds. True senior Mitchell Cumings (6'4" F/Mount Sinai, NY/Mount Sinai HS) saw action in 15 games, averaging 2.7 points per game with 34 rebounds.

Three returnees looking to gain valuable playing time are junior guard Thomas Keane (6'0"/Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's Boys HS) and sophomore Diamonte McMillan (6'2" G/Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy), who last season saw action in seven and two game respectively, and, after sitting out 2023-24, sophomore Oumar Sy (6'4"/W/New York, NY/John Bowne HS) returns. 

"Going off last year we had a great run, coming in as underdogs and wanting to compete with every team, we knew none of the games were going to be light," Smith said. "We had to come ready to work every day in practice and just bring our all. This year I'm hoping that I lead the team along with Sean and [A.J. Knight] and looking to repeat and coming in everyday to compete and work hard."

Two transfer students and three first years look to make an impact for SUNY New Paltz. Graduate student Luke Van Slyke (6'6" F/Fort Plain, NY/Canajoharie HS) played three seasons for SUNY Oswego, being a member of two SUNYAC championship teams. On a talent laden Lakers team, he saw action in 25 games averaging 3.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Entering SUNY New Paltz from Onondaga Community College is junior LaMar Matthews (6'4" W/Buffalo, NY/Tapestry Charter HS). Matthews averaged 18 points per game and earned All-Conference honors with OCC. At Tapestry Charter HS, he scored over 1,000 points, averaging 25.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in his senior year, earning All-New York State honors.  
Among the first-year players joining the Hawks are two teammates from Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom HS in Amir Hughes (6'2" G/Bronx, NY) and Isaiah Rivera (6'4" W/Bronx, NY). Both earned Hoop Dreams Tri-State Players to Watch honors as seniors while leading the Panthers to consecutive Bronx B PSAL playoffs. Rivera is a two-time All-NYS Class A selection and averaged 22.4 points, 6.88 assists and 5.68 rebounds per game for his career. Hughes, also an All-NYS Class A selection, averaged 17 points, and 2.72 assists and 4.96 rebounds per game.

The final member of the Class of '28 is Trevor Amalfitano (6'3" G/Port Washington, NY/Paul D. Schreiber HS). Amalfitano scored over 1,000 points in his high school career; he was listed as one of the top 3-point shooters on Long Island; earned three All-Nassau County First Team honors; was named to Newsday's Top 100 Long Island Players for both 2023 and 2024 and was a Newsday All Long Island selection as a junior and senior and lastly was a two-time All NYS Class AAA selection.

"We obviously lost five really important guys," St. Lucia said. "They were a huge piece of last year, but these new guys are hungry, they're ready to learn and they're ready to play New Paltz basketball, which you don't see often. We have a lot of talent coming in from a bunch of different places, they usually don't jell, people aren't willing to take a lesser role to be a part of something bigger."

The experience is there and so is the talent and potential for the 2024-25 Hawks. The first four games, all on the road beginning Nov. 13 at CUNY John Jay, will give an early indication of what's in store for the program. SUNY New Paltz's first home game, on Dec. 3, is a huge one, against 2023-24 NCAA DIII Sweet 16 Williams College. The Hawks then open their SUNYAC title defense Dec. 6-7, hosting SUNY Fredonia and Buffalo State University in the Hawk Center. After their trip to Las Vegas, they begin 2025 against perennial SUNYAC powerhouse SUNY Oswego, at Oswego, a place where SUNY New Paltz earned its first ever SUNYAC championship a year ago, a game that could foretell the story for the 2024-25 season.

"I have a lot of confidence in this team. Everybody is ready to come in and compete, even the freshmen," Smith said. "They know it's not going to be an easy season, so we just got to keep pushing each other in practice and iron sharpens iron. The more we compete the better we get."


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