GENESEO, NY- The New Paltz men’s basketball team fell to the Blue Knights from Geneseo Friday night, 75-65. Despite the Hawks having three players score in double-digits and winning the turnover battle, 15-11 the Hawks fall to 5-4 overall and 1-2 in the SUNYAC and Geneseo improves to 2-6 overall and 2-2 in the SUNYAC.
Sophomore Harris Wichard led the Hawks with 16 points, two assists and two steals and sophomore Jayquan Anderson chipped in with 14 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Shereef Taylor added 15 points, five rebounds and two steals.
Brandon Simpson led the Blue Knights with a double-double with a game-high 27 points and 14 rebounds and Kyle Stevens added a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Mike Hoy chipped in with 10 points.
Geneseo jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes, but the Hawks would chip away at the double-digit lead to cut it to three at 29-26 with 4:43 remaining in the half. Geneseo would close out the half on a 9-3 run to take a 38-29 advantage at the break.
In the second half, Geneseo used a 14-5 run over a span of five minutes to pull away from the Hawks. The Hawks would battle back though, trailing 62-44 with 9:16 remaining in the game, they used a 21-7 run to cut the lead to four on back-to-back free throws from freshman Nick Taldi with 59 seconds to go. Geneseo would hold off the Hawks going 4-for-5 from the free throw line down the stretch for the victory.
