New Paltz, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz men's and women's basketball programs each earned at least one more game in the confines of the Hawk Center.
Hawks women's basketball clinched its seventh No. 1 seed in SUNYAC history after finishing the regular season on a 15-game winning streak, while the men, thanks to the heroics of a buzzer beater on the road from senior
LaMar Matthews, solidified the No. 4 seed and hosting duties in the quarterfinal round in the SUNYAC Men's Basketball Tournament Tuesday.
On the women's side, SUNY New Paltz finished with a record of 23-2 overall and 17-1 in the SUNYAC and earned the tiebreaker over SUNY Cortland due to the latest NPI rankings released Monday. The Hawks defeated the Red Dragons to even the series three weeks ago in the Hawk Center. Both teams earned a bye with the top two seeds with SUNY New Paltz playing host of the Final Four for the first time since the 2023-24 season. The Hawks hope to dethrone the Red Dragons who defeated SUNY New Paltz for their program's ninth title last season at Whitney T. Corey Gymnasium on the campus of SUNY Cortland.
The bracket shook out to SUNY Canton as the No. 3 seed followed by Plattsburgh (4), Oswego (5) and Oneonta (6). The Hawks will face the winner of the No. 4 Cardinals and No. 5 Lakers, while the Red Dragons will face either the Roos or Oneonta. Both quarterfinal games will be played Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the respective higher seed's arena. The hosting Hawks are set to play Game 1 of Semifinal Friday at 5:30 p.m. followed by Cortland in the Game 2 matchup at 7:30 p.m.
The SUNY New Paltz men's basketball program fought to earn hosting duties after collecting the series sweep of Plattsburgh Friday night. The hosting Cardinals had come back from an 18-point deficit and led by one with 1.2 seconds left before Matthews swished through a last-second shot to solidify an 80-79 win and guarantee his team one more game in their home gym. In turn, Plattsburgh slid down to No. 5, setting up a re-match between the two conference rivals Tuesday. The last time the two teams played in the Hawk Center on Jan. 24, SUNY New Paltz took a comfortable 88-62 victory as its hopes to complete trifecta in the three-game series. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Whichever team wins will advance to the semifinal round, hosted by No. 1 seed SUNY Cortland. The winner will face the top seeded Red Dragons for a chance to play in the championship game, also in Whitney T. Corey Gymnasium, on Saturday at 4 p.m. against the winner of No. 2 seed Oneonta and either No. 3 Oswego or No. 6 Morrisville.
Ticket prices in the Hawk Center for all 2026 basketball conference postseason contests will be $7 for adults, $5 for children (5-12 years) and seniors (65-plus) and free with SUNYAC students with a SUNYAC ID.
To view the full SUNYAC Men's Basketball Tournament, click here.
To view the full SUNYAC Women's Basketball Tournament, click here.
******************
To stay up to date with everything #NPHawks be sure to follow us on
Twitter at
@nphawks,
Instagram and
Facebook at
@newpaltzhawks, and subscribe to our
Youtube channel,
New Paltz Hawks.
