SUNY New Paltz Men's Basketball Falls 85-74 in Regular Season Finale to Potsdam

New Paltz, NY - The State University of New York at New Paltz closed out the regular season Saturday in the Hawk Center against SUNY Potsdam and suffered an 85-74 loss.

The Hawks owned a 43-35 lead at the break, but a lackluster second half where they scored just 31 points on less than 28 percent shooting, making just eight baskets in the final 20 minutes helped the Bears take control down the stretch and close out with a win.

Potsdam needed the victory to earn a spot in the SUNYAC Tournament, while SUNY New Paltz already garnered its position in the postseason but a win on its end would have pushed it through to the semifinal. Instead, the Hawks land the No. 4 seed and host No. 5 Cortland in a quarterfinal matchup Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Hawk Center.

Lucas Seyoum gave SUNY New Paltz a 10-point cushion after a made 3 with about 12 minutes to play in the second half. The Bears countered though with back-to-back made triples by Colton Huestis to bring the difference to four. Solomon Neuhaus connected from behind the arc for the Hawks to get the advantage back to seven, but the Bears continued to chip away at the lead. Huestis pushed Potsdam ahead on another made 3-pointer and from there, the Bears worked the paint and continued getting to the foul line. Tyrese Baptise, Huestis and Sillah Ahamadou all had trips to the charity stripe to help build Potsdam an 11-point lead with less than three minutes to go. Baptiste extended the advantage to 12 a possession later, getting a bucket to go in the paint and the Hawks struggled overcoming the double-digit deficit. Seyoum got his team closer with a made 3-pointer with 1:25 left, but the Bears continued getting and hitting from the foul line to ice the win.

Potsdam ultimately hit 24-32 from the foul line and scored 26 points in the paint. The Hawks, after shooting nearly 60 percent in the first half (17-30), finished 42 percent from the field.

Isaiah Bien-Aise and Brandon Scott led the team offensively with 17 points each. Bien-Aise added six rebounds, an assist and a steal in 28 minutes, while Scott registered three rebounds, a block and a team-leading four assists in 24 minutes off the bench. Seyoum followed with 11 points, four rebounds, two assist and a block.