NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Senior guard Oppong Agyemang (Windsor, CT) banked in a short driving jumper at the buzzer to give New Paltz its only lead of the game and the Hawks defeated Cortland, 68-67. New Paltz evens its SUNYAC record at 6-6 and is 10-8 overall. Cortland had a five-game winning streak snapped and is now 12-7 overall and 8-4 and in second place in the conference.
Sophomore Harris Wichard (Merrick/Bellmore JFK) led the Hawks with 25 points and grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore Shereef Taylor (Hyde Park/FDR) added 14 points and Agyemang scored seven points and led the team with 10 assists.
Junior Dustin Marshall (Newfield) hit 5-of-6 three-pointers and led Cortland with 19 points. He also totaled eight rebounds and four assists. Senior Paul Oliver (Phoenix) scored 16 points, senior Ben Nagle (Rochester/Aquinas Institute) added 11 points and nine rebounds and freshman Jesse Winter (Rockville Centre/South Side) dished out a career-high eight assists.
Cortland led 67-61 with 3:05 remaining after a Nagle layup but didn’t score again. Wichard made a three-pointer with 1:19 left and Taylor’s layup with 42 seconds remaining cut the Cortland lead to one at 67-66.
The Red Dragons had two chances to extend their lead, but Winter missed the front end of a one-and-one with 15 seconds left and, following a Nagle offensive rebound, sophomore Brian Manning (Elmira/Elmira Southside) failed to connect on a one-and-one front end with 12 seconds left.
Taylor grabbed the rebound and New Paltz called timeout with just under eight seconds remaining. On the ensuing play, Taylor dished to Agyemang on the right wing. He drove toward the lane, jump stopped and banked in a contested fallaway short jumper as time expired.
Cortland opened the game on a 15-2 run over the first six and a half minutes. The Red Dragons led 33-20 with 4:43 left and 37-29 at halftime. The lead was 54-46 after an Oliver free throw with 10:14 left in the game, but New Paltz scored seven straight and was within one with 7:16 left.
New Paltz shot 61 percent from the field in the second half and 47 percent for the game. Cortland made 52 percent of its second-half field goals and 48 percent for the contest. The Red Dragons, however, converted on only 3-of-13 free throws compared to 8-of-10 shooting for the Hawks.
Box Score/Play-by-Play