A Big second half comeback by the SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team fell short today to New Paltz 79-70.  The Red Dragons trailed at halftime by 16 points before putting together a second half run that saw them get to 70-68 with 3:40 remaining in the contest.  Six points by senior Shareef Taylor down the stretch led the Hawks to victory.  Taylor led New Paltz (6-7/3-3) with 18 points to go with six boards, three assists and four steals.

Sophomore Zach Mager (New City/Clarkstown South) led Oneonta (2-10/1-5) with 26 points that included 10-of-11 from the free throw line.  Freshman Jackson Zuvic (Cold Spring/Haldane) added 14 points.

The first run in the second half for Oneonta came when they were trailing 53-49.  A layup by freshman Jack Dignan (Brewster/Brewster) capped a 15-6 run at the 10:43 mark made the score 57-54.  The second spurt came at the 6:27 mark with the Red Dragons trailing 68-61.  It was Dignan again who hit a three-pointer to get Oneonta to within two points at 70-68.  Dignan finished the game with eight points, all coming in the second half.

The game was tied at 11 apiece after a jumper by Mager at 13:56.  New Paltz held at 20-18 advantage at the 9:17 mark before they started creating some breathing room.  A 15-3 run over the next four minutes put the Hawks up 35-21.  A three-point basket by freshman Kevin Roach capped the spurt.  The Hawks outscored Oneonta 24-12 in the paint in taking a 46-30 lead into halftime.  The Hawks also shot 54 percent from the floor in the half and out-rebounded the Red Dragons 22-12.

Deveino McRae, Matt Devine and Taylor Sowah all reached double figures for New Paltz today with 17, 14 and 12 points respectively.

Oneonta will be on the road next Friday night as they play at SUNY Potsdam beginning at 8pm.

Newspaper Box Score
NEW PALTZ 79, SUNY ONEONTA 70

NEW PALTZ (6-7/3-3 SUNYAC)
TAYLOR, Shereef 7-12 2-2 18; McRAE, Deveino 7-7 3-4 17; DEVINE, Matt 5-16 3-6 14; SOWAH, Taylor 5-8 1-1 12; ROACH, Kevin 2-3 1-2 6; JOSEPH, Andrew 2-4 2-2 6; DONOVAN, Keegan 1-3 0-0 3; HULBERT, Joe 1-3 0-0 3; HEENAN, Billy 0-0 0-0 0; JENKINS, Shalik 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 30-62 12-17 79.

SUNY ONEONTA (2-10/1-5 SUNYAC)
MAGER, Zach 7-14 10-11 26; ZUVIC, Jackson 7-15 0-0 14; KELLY, Frankie 4-7 0-1 8; DIGNAN, Jack 3-5 0-0 8; PARKER, Terrence 3-6 0-0 7; LEE, Dan 1-3 2-2 5; SARCHIOTO, Nick 1-2 0-0 2; WILLIAMS, Kareem 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 12-14 70.

3-point goals--New Paltz 7-20 (TAYLOR, Shereef 2-4; DEVINE, Matt 1-7; ROACH, Kevin 1-2; SOWAH, Taylor 1-1; HULBERT, Joe 1-3; DONOVAN, Keegan 1-2; JENKINS, Shalik 0-1), SUNY Oneonta 6-15 (DIGNAN, Jack 2-3; MAGER, Zach 2-3; LEE, Dan 1-3; PARKER, Terrence 1-2; KELLY, Frankie 0-1; ZUVIC, Jackson 0-3).
Fouled out--New Paltz-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
Rebounds--New Paltz 35 (McRAE, Deveino 8), SUNY Oneonta 28 (LEE, Dan 5).
Assists--New Paltz 16
(JOSEPH, Andrew 3; TAYLOR, Shereef 3), SUNY Oneonta 13 (MAGER, Zach 5; KELLY, Frankie 5). Total fouls--New Paltz 16, SUNY Oneonta 14.
Technical fouls--New Paltz-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
A-118