SUNY New Paltz — Despite hanging close to league-leading SUNY Oneonta Saturday and getting the score to a one-possession game late, the State University of New York at New Paltz couldn't get the go-ahead basket to pull the upset over the Red Dragons in the Hawk Center and suffered a 77-71 loss.
 
The Hawks (5-12 overall, 1-9 SUNYAC) worked inside early, taking advantage of their size with forwards Isaiah Bien-Aise, Scott Reisert and freshman Tyreik Frazier off the bench. Frazier scored a career-high 11 points in the game, with all coming in the second half.
 
"We thought early on Oneonta can play a big lineup and they can play a small lineup. They have a lot of versatile guys, so when they went smaller we tried to get Tyreik in there and Scott in there," said SUNY New Paltz coach Keith Kenney. "Sometimes they were being guarded by smaller guys, the only problem is they have to go guard their guy on the other end, but I thought Tyreik and Scott played really, really well. They kind of kept us in it most of that game."
 
The Hawks battled through a double-digit deficit, which stretched to as many as 14 in the first half. Frazier connected on attempt in the paint to bring the Red Dragons lead to 10 at halftime.
 
Jake Passaretti trimmed the deficit to five with about 12 minutes left in the second half following a made free throw, but six-straight points by Oneonta brought the difference back to 11 with about 10 minutes to play. The Hawks worked their way to single digits down the stretch, but they couldn't get a stop on the defensive end and the Red Dragons continued with a comfortable cushion.
 

"We really didn't shoot the ball well in the first half and I thought we actually defended better in the second half if you look at the numbers, but in the first half a lot of those shots are wide open so you can't really be mad at it," Kenney said. "Second half we started hitting some of those shots, but overall they made a few extra plays and we just couldn't get over that hump. That team scores a lot of points and I thought our defense was OK, but we just came up short on the scoring end."
 
Tristan Wissemann started SUNY New Paltz's final rally, knocking down a 3 with about 2:40 remaining. Oneonta answered with a free throw, but on the next offensive possession the Hawks capitalized, grabbing back-to-back offensive rebounds with RJ Meyers-Turner finally finding the bottom of the hoop with a put-back in the paint. Reisert earned a steal down the floor and pushed the ball to Meyers-Turner, who swung a pass to Wissemann for another 3 to get SUNY New Paltz within four with 1:19 on the clock.
 
Following a quick 30-second timeout, the Hawks buckled down and forced a bad shot. Reisert grabbed the defensive rebound and added two more on the offensive end to cut the score, 73-71 with less than 30 seconds to play.
 
SUNY New Paltz pressed and tried to trap the Red Dragons near the sideline to cause a steal, but Passaretti was called for the quick foul on Kevin Mackin who was then sent to the line. The senior was perfect on both attempts, strengthing his 82.1 free throw percentage going into the game to bump the Oneonta lead back to four.
 
Passaretti attacked the basket the next time down, but Ian Shultz got a piece of the shot, which helped careen the attempt off the rim and out of play. The Hawks were forced to foul again and the Red Dragons were true on both to bolster their advantage to six with about 17 seconds left. Meyers-Turner missed one last 3-point try in the final seconds and the outcome solidified at 77-71.
  "I think at the end, they made a few extra plays," Kenney said. "They had a wide-open 3 that we didn't guard well. They got some offensive rebounds on a late clock out of bounds play. So, you have to give Oneonta credit. We fought and stayed in the game, but they definitely made a few extra plays at the end of the game."
 
Reisert led the way for SUNY New Paltz, tallying his fourth double-double of the season after finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds. His 19 points was a season-high, as he hit an efficient 8-of-14 from the floor, while also adding four assists, two blocks and two steals to his stat sheet. Wissemann followed with 11 points, three assists, a block and one rebound.
 
"Scott is a tough kid and he played great," Kenney said. "I thought he might have had his best defensive game too. He was blocking shots, he was switching out to little guards and then it seemed whenever we went to him it seemed like he got a basket most of the time. He's really good down low and he was also hitting his 3, so yeah, he had an excellent game. "
 
Oneonta stays among the top of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) standings with the win. SUNY New Paltz drops to ninth, but is still in play for a sixth seed in the conference tournament. It has a short break before getting back on the floor, taking on defending SUNYAC Champions Oswego Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. game.
 
"I felt like our energy and our effort was great," Kenney added. "We just didn't hit our shots and execute a few plays. This league there is no easy games. Every game you play is against a good team. Our next few games are against good teams, but we know we can compete with every single team. I told the guys this morning we just have to keep going. We have no other option, just keep going. Got to keep working and keep playing. No one is going to feel sorry for us. We just got to keep playing and I think we will."

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