The SUNY Potsdam men’s basketball team fell victim to a hot-shooting team Friday, suffering an 84-63 defeat at Geneseo in a State University of New York Athletic Conference match-up at Geneseo, N.Y.

The Blue Knights (9-10 overall, 3-9 SUNYAC) shot 66.7 percent from the field, including a scorching 81-percent clip (17-of-21) in the first half.

“We had a hard time stopping their dribble penetration and didn’t do a great job of communicating or covering shooters,” Potsdam coach Sherry Dobbs said. “They found spots to attack in our zone and we didn’t figure it out.”

After a 3-pointer by senior Anthony Williams (Long Island, N.Y.) made it a 24-22 game with 7:50 left in the first half, the Bears (6-13, 5-7) were unable to keep pace with Geneseo, which rode a 20-6 run to a 44-28 halftime advantage.

Potsdam would get as close as 14 points and trail by as many as 28 in the second half, when they made 12-of-20 (60 percent) from the floor.

“We had opportunities to hang around in the first half but got impatient offensively,” Dobbs said. “We didn’t reverse the ball and weren’t patient with our shot selection … we tried too often to get back in the game with one play.”

Freshman Tony Efese (Spring Valley, N.Y.) paced the Bears with 11 points, while sophomore Curtis Pierce (Brooklyn, N.Y.) totaled 10 points as well as seven rebounds and four assists, both team highs. Williams and senior Eddie Cross (Hudson, N.Y.) registered eight points apiece.

Potsdam resumes conference play tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Brockport.