NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – New Paltz shot 62 percent from the field overall and 54 percent (13-of-24) from 3-piont range and the Hawks defeated visiting Cortland, 95-81, in a SUNYAC men's basketball matchup.
Rylan Blondo led New Paltz (8-7, 6-3 SUNYAC) with 23 points and eight assists and added seven rebounds. He hit 8-of-11 shots, including 3-of-4 treys. Tyreik Frazier scored 19 points on a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and he grabbed six boards. Isaiah Bien-Aise finished with 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds and Sean St. Lucia connected on 4-of-5 3-pointers and ended with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Austin Grunder (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson) led Cortland (12-5, 7-3 SUNYAC) with 28 points and 10 rebounds. He hit 11-of-18 shots from the field. Grunder increased his career scoring total to 1,484 points, 41 shy of tying the school record of 1,525 set by Jesse Winter from 2009-13.
Kareem Lubin (Monroe/Washingtonville) tallied 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting,
Riley McEvoy (Homer) scored a season-high 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, 3-of-6 from the arc, and
Danny Linehan (Blauvelt/Tappan Zee) scored 10 points.
New Paltz trailed only three times early, the last at 6-5 less than two minutes into the game. The Hawks shot 70 percent from the field in the opening half, fueled by 71 percent accuracy (10-of-14) from the 3-point arc, and took a 53-43 halftime lead.
After falling behind by 13, Cortland fought back to within seven points twice in the second half, the latest at 61-54 on a Lubin jumper four minutes into the period. The Red Dragons turned the ball over twice with a chance to get closer, and New Paltz pushed its lead to 13 on a pair of Frazier 3-point plays over the next two minutes. Cortland trailed by single digits only once after that at 83-74 with less than four minutes remaining after a Grunder jumper, but St. Lucia hit a 3-pointer to make it a 12-point lead and Cortland got no closer.
Cortland travels to Oneonta Saturday for a 4 p.m. SUNYAC contest.
