PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – In what turned out to be an epic battle of the birds, the No. 13 Plattsburgh State men's basketball team out hustled the New Paltz Hawks 85-75 Friday night inside Memorial Hall Gym.

Plattsburgh State improves to 5-0 and 1-0 to open SUNYAC play while New Paltz falls to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

Senior forward Jonathan Patron (Huntington, N.Y. / Harborfields) had his second doube-double of the season with 32 points and 20 boards. Patron had three blocks, three assists and two steals.

Senior forward Ian Howard (Queens, N.Y./Springfield Gardens) also double-doubled with 13 points and 12 rebounds while senior guard/forward Chris Middleton (New York, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) also logged 13 points.

Junior guard Nick DeAngelis (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) scored nine points and senior guard Brandon Johnson (Greenburgh, N.Y./Woodlands) had eight points and five assists.

The first half was anyone's game with the lead changing eight times and the game being tied nine times before Howard made a free throw with 38 seconds left for a one-point edge.

Middleton put in a layup with three second remaining in the first half to give the Cardinals a 43-40 lead heading into halftime.

Patron put in a jumper to start the second half for a five-point cushion.

New Paltz tied the game 45-45 and took a one-point advantage that the Cardinals took back with a jumper from senior forward Isaiah Hill (Brooklyn, N.Y./HS for Dual Language and Asian Studies).

The remainder of the second was another free for all with the game being tied twice more and the lead changing six more times.

A three-pointer from Patron and a fast break layup and free throw from Johnson gave the Cardinals back their five-point cushion with 15:38 left in the game.

New Paltz went on a seven-point run to take a two-point edge and kept the lead for over four minutes.

Patron made a free throw at the 10:10 mark to tie the game 61-61 to start a ten-point run by the Cardinals.

Howard made two free throws, junior forward Adam Jaquish (Moriah, N.Y./Moriah) put in a layup followed by a three-pointer from DeAngelis and a layup from Middleton put Plattsburgh State up 70-61.

A layup from Johnson and Patron and a free throw by Middleton gave the Cardinals a 14-point advantage with 3:49 remaining.

The Hawks were able to make a few baskets to cut the Cardinals win to 10 points.

Plattsburgh State out-rebounded New Paltz 54-41 and scored 14 points off the Hawks 11 turnovers.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday as they host Oneonta at 4 p.m. for the SUNYAC championship rematch from last year.