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Bears men's hoops strike back for 69-54 victory at New Paltz

Posted 12/6/15

NEW PALTZ, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team (1-6, 1-1 SUNYAC) never trailed in a convincing 69-54 victory at SUNY New Paltz on Saturday afternoon. Freshman forward Dante Langley …

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Bears men's hoops strike back for 69-54 victory at New Paltz

Posted

NEW PALTZ, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team (1-6, 1-1 SUNYAC) never trailed in a convincing 69-54 victory at SUNY New Paltz on Saturday afternoon. Freshman forward Dante Langley (Schuylerville, N.Y./Schuylerville) led the Bears with 14 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore forward Josh Blagrove (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Ford) just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine boards. Senior guard Joe Estramonte (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich) also chipped 13 points.

Potsdam opened the game with an 11-2 run and never looked back. Langley had four points and freshman forward Nate Wyatte (Brooklyn, N.Y./Grand Street Campus) buried a 3-pointer during the stretch. Two free throw from Nick Paquette closed the gap to 20-15, but a 10-1 answer gave the Bears their biggest lead of the half at at 30-16. A jumper from freshman forward Vincent Smythe (Brentwood, N.Y./Brentwood) put Potsdam up 14 with 3:03 to play. After a dunk from Brandon Guest got the Hawks within 30-23 two minutes later, but Estramonte drained a three with 22 seconds on the clock and the Bears led 33-23 at the half.

A Langley layup at 15:51 of the second half gave Potsdam a 40-27 advantage. RJ Rosa responded with a 5-2 run of his own for New Paltz and the Hawks were down 10 with 14:14 to play. They wouldn't get any closer. The Bears then put the game away with a 21-10 run over the next six minutes and led 61-42 with eight minutes on the clock. Smythe punctuated the run with a fast break layup at 8:32. The lead hovered between 19 and 15 points the rest of the way as the Hawks were never able to seriously threaten again. An Estramonte free throw made it 69-50 with under three minutes to go and sealed Potsdam's first victory of the season.

Smythe finished with eight points and six rebounds, while freshman guard Nosa Onabor (Brooklyn, N.Y./Northside Charter) matched him with eight points and freshman forward Serigne Kane (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Prep) finished with six points and seven boards. Paquette totaled a game-high 16 points for New Paltz and Keegan Donovan added 12 points.

The Bears shot 38.1-percent from the floor, while holding the Hawks to just 29.8. Potsdam also controlled the glass with a 50-39 edge in rebounds.

The Bears are back in action a week from today when they head to St. Lawrence for a 4 p.m. matchup with the Saints.