PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - After the Plattsburgh State men's basketball pulled within one of visiting State University of New York Athletic Conference opponent New Paltz with 14 seconds left on the clock, it seemed as though the Cardinals might pull off a storybook come-from-behind win. Unfortunately, Shereef Taylor would go 4-for-4 at the free-throw line for the Hawks and the Cardinals would only hit one of two shots from the charity stripe. Coupled with a missed three-pointer right before the buzzer by Plattsburgh, and it all would result in New Paltz walking away the victors, 81-77.
The loss drops Plattsburgh down to 11-7 for the season, 6-5 in the SUNYAC. New Paltz is now 9-8 for the year, 5-6 in conference play.
For the second night in a row the Cardinals would hit two shots from behind the arc straight out of the gate, the first by Chris Ruiz and the second by Steve Thomas. The lead would flip-flop twice before New Paltz finally took hold with a decisive seven-point advantage (28-21) with 8:38 left to play in the first half. New Paltz would remain ahead and the score shown as 45-37 on the board in favor of the Hawks as the halftime buzzer sounded.
In the second half, New Paltz jumped out ahead by as much at 14 points with 13:35 left on the clock. Plattsburgh continued to chip away at the Hawks lead, however, and pulled ahead by one with just under six minutes to play. The Hawks would not go down without a fight and pulled ahead once more, this time for good, after Jayquan Anderson tied the game with a free-throw and Taylor sank a layup with 3:22 remaining on the clock.
Taylor led the Hawks in scoring with 19 points, while Nick Taldi sank 17 and Harris Wichard contributed 14. Wichard, Taylor and Oppong Agyemang pulled down seven boards each for Hawks, as well. Agyemang led both teams with four assists.
For Plattsburgh, Errol Daniyan recorded his fifth double-double of the season, consisting of 26 points and 10 rebounds. Ruiz was second on the squad with 18 and Steve Thomas added 12. Carl Munnerlyn nabbed a game-high three steals for the Cardinals.
Next up, Plattsburgh takes on Fredonia at home on Friday, February 6, at 8 p.m.
