It took 10 extra minutes of play and two overtime periods to decide a winner between Fredonia State and New Paltz in a SUNYAC men's basketball contest, but when the dust cleared, it was the Hawks who came away with the 92-87 victory.
"It was a great game," Fredonia State coach Kevin Moore said. "The problem was it was too good of a game to lose. It was right in our grasps, but right now our biggest glaring weakness is rebounding."
The Blue Devils opened up the game with a hot touch from beyond the arc.
Article Photos
OBSERVER Photos by Justin Goetz
Fredonia State’s Matt Deboy (42) works the paint as New Paltz’s Deveino McRae looks for the block during SUNYAC?men’s basketball action.
Fredonia State hit 7 of 16 treys in the first half, but only managed four throughout the second half and both overtimes.
"We shot well for a while," Moore said. "I don't want that to define us though. We need to get better productivity inside. Right now we have two freshmen that are inexperienced and it shows at times. They are both coming along and they are going to be good, but right now, their inexperience shows."
Fredonia State led 39-32 at the half, but the Hawks would have a big second half to tie the game up.
Midway through the second half, New Paltz went on an 11-3 run to go up 54-47.
However, Fredonia State stormed back with a 3-pointer from Amir Billups, a big dunk from Tyrone Carter and the tying layup from Robert Lyles.
With :23 left in regulation, New Paltz' Deveino McRae scored to put the hawks up 68-66, but the Blue Devils drove down the court and Carter was able to pick up a foul.
Carter knocked down both free throws to tie the game 68-all, forcing overtime.
"On the plus side, we had a bunch of different players that stepped up and made big shots," Moore said. "Tyrone got out to a very slow start, so I was glad to see he rallied in the second half and made some big shots. Joe Monahan had one of his best offensive nights by far for us as well."
Carter continued to heat up as he drained a 3-pointer to start the overtime period, but Matt Devine hit back-to-back treys for New Paltz.
With :58 remaining, it was Monahan's turn to hit a big shot, as he drained one from well beyond the arc to tie it, 78-all.
The Hawks went ahead after a pair of made free throws, but it was Carter who came through once again scoring with: 20 left to tie it up.
As the buzzer sounded at the end of the first overtime period, New Paltz put up a shot that went in on a put back shot, but after a meeting of the referees, it was determined the ball was shot after time had expired.
"I have to bet that they got big offensive rebounds in both overtimes where we got the stops, but gave them the ball back," Moore said. "It's frustrating, because rebounding is something that I've prided myself on the last three or four years when we've been in the top five in the league."
After falling behind in the second overtime the Blue Devils caught a break when New Paltz' Andrew Joseph was called for a foul and then given a technical for slamming the ball on the court.
Fredonia State made three of the four foul shots to tie it up at 85-apiece.
The Hawks drained a 3-pointer with: 40, but the Blue Devils went down the court to try and tie it up once again.
"In the second overtime we had that look from three to tie it and you couldn't ask for a better look," Moore said of the crucial play. "Devin had a nice rebound and passed to Tyrone, so we had some good looks."
After all of the big shots Carter made throughout the back end of the game, the biggest one was unable to find the bottom of the net.
With that, New Paltz hit its foul shots down the stretch to seal the victory.
Leading the way in defeat was Carter with 22 points while Monahan had 21 and Amir Billups had 15 points and six boards.
Deveino led the Hawks with 23 points, while going 10 for 11 from the field and Devine chipped in with 22 points.
"In this conference as hard as a loss is, it's important to be ready to play (today)," Moore said. "We can't let this game take too much out of us."
Fredonia State takes on Oneonta today at 4 p.m.
