Oneonta, NY –– The State University of New York at New Paltz opened up its first game of the New Year Saturday against Oneonta and came away with an 84-76 loss despite a strong second-half effort. 

The Hawks (4-6 overall, 0-3 SUNYAC) struggled in the opening 20 minutes and faced a 44-29 deficit at the break. They allowed the Red Dragons (7-3, 3-0) to shoot more than 51 percent from the field with the hosts scoring nearly half of their first half points off the bench.

SUNY New Paltz picked up its play in the following period, especially on the offensive side of the floor. Senior Tristan Wissemann came alive in the final 20 minutes, scoring 20 of his career-high 31 points in the half, while shooting 7-for-13 from the field, including 5-for-8 from the perimeter. 

"We need Tristan to attack and be aggressive and he has been doing that lately. He fought all night," said Hawks coach Keith Kenney.

SUNY New Paltz quickly trimmed the Red Dragons lead down to six within the first three minutes of the second half with Jake Passaretti and Wissemann combining for nine points in the 11-2 stretch.

Oneonta answered with a run of its own and built back up an 18-point cushion with about 12 minutes left in the game. SUNY New Paltz slowly chipped away at the large deficit and fought to get within five with 30 seconds remaining following scores on three-straight possessions, instigated by Passaretti and finished by Wissemann on back-to-back buckets.

"Our intensity was not high enough in the first half, and we dug too big a hole," Kenney said. "We just tried to attack and play harder [in the second half]."

The Hawks put the Red Dragons on the foul line to slow the clock down and Deegan Harrison answered, sinking both attempts to boost his team's lead to seven. Passaretti finished another attempt from the floor in the last 12 seconds, but SUNY New Paltz couldn't put the finishing touches on the comeback and suffered its third State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) loss of the year.

Wissemann led the way with a career-high, ultimately finishing 12-for-24 from the floor and 5-for-10 from 3 with three rebounds and three assists. Passaretti followed with 21 points on 9-for-17 shooting with seven rebounds and a team-high six assists.

The Hawks are back on Tuesday, January 14 when they take on Oswego at the Hawk Center at 7:30 PM.

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