New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz suffered a 68-58 loss to visiting Cortland Saturday to end a three-game winning streak.
The Hawks (9-10 overall, 7-5 SUNYAC) had a good start from the opening tip, leading for the first 10 minutes of the game and took a five-point advantage at 19-14 following a made triple by
LaMar Matthews with eight minutes to go. However, following the Red Dragons' first timeout of the game at 9:52 they slowly started to churn momentum their direction, as they out-scored SUNY New Paltz 21-7 from that point forward.
Carless turnovers also hindered the Hawks down the stretch, as eight of their nine turnovers in the half came in the final 10 minutes, coupled with cold shooting to end the first helped Cortland to a 35-23 lead at the break. The hosts made just 9-for-26 in the opening 20 minutes with six of those buckets coming in the first 10 minutes, carried by 15 points from Mattews who hit 6-for-9 in the period.
The Red Dragons, meanwhile, connected on 11-for-24 in the first half and was buoyed by their 3-point shooting, going 7-for-15 from behind the arc.
Although the Hawks rallied in the second half, they never regained control. They worked through a 21-point deficit to cut the difference to 10 with nine minutes left following a put-back by Matthews.
SUNY New Paltz got the Red Dragons lead down to single digits, helped by a steal from Matthews, resulting in a basket by
Thomas Keane underneath to create a 58-49 score with about six minutes left. Cortland answered next time the floor, however, and kept the hosts at distance from there to hold onto the 10-point victory.
The Hawks upped their shooting in the second, connecting on nearly 49 percent and finished the game hitting about 42 percent from the field with most of their points coming in the paint (34). Cortland finished the night 46.3 percent from the floor and 33 percent from 3-point range, as SUNY New Paltz kept the Red Dragons to just 2-for-12 from behind the arc in the second half.
Matthews led all scorers with 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting and was a rebound shy from a double-double, ending with nine boards and three steals in a full 40 minutes.
Isaiah Rivera was the only other Hawk to double-figure points, totaling 12 on 5-for-11 shooting with five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
SUNY New Paltz is back in action Tuesday, going on the road to complete its home-and-home series with Oswego. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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