Hawks Fall Short Against SUNYIT

NEW PALTZ — The SUNY New Paltz men’s basketball team lost a tough 76-70 game to visiting SUNYIT Tuesday to fall to 4-11 on the season and 2-5 in the SUNYAC conference.

After jumping out to a 5-0 lead on a layup by Jonathan Towles (Jamaica, NY) and three-point field goal by Joe Bell (Albany, NY) to start the first half, the Hawks were outscored by SUNYIT 43-19 the rest of the way and went into the half down 43-24.

The Hawks turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and slowly chipped away at the Wildcat lead. A 20-point lead at the 16:08 mark was cut to nine with 8:45 left on Towles’ basket in the paint. The Hawks managed to get SUNYIT’s lead down to four on Ben Davey’s (Andover, NJ) three-point basket with 1:28 left but Malcolm Stanton’s (Queens, NY) four consecutive free throws with under 30 seconds left iced the game for the visitors.

The Hawks managed to put five players in double-figures for the night. Bell was the high scorer with 18 points while Steve Ott (New Paltz, NY) contributed 14. Davey finished the game with 12 points while Matt Daudier (S. Floral Park, NY) added 11 and Towles finished with 10.

Jerry Buckley (Binghamton, NY) led SUNYIT with 18 points. Stanton and Cody Bojo (Callicoon, NY) each added 13 apiece and Nick Grimmer (New Hartford, NY) had 12.

The Hawks are back in action this weekend at Geneseo on Friday at 8:00 p.m. and Brockport on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.