New Paltz Hawks Fall at No. 24 Middlebury 94-62

By Ryan Novitsky

MIDDLEBURY, VT – The State University of New York at New Paltz men’s basketball team fell behind early on Tuesday night at No. 24 Middlebury and could not recover, falling to the nationally-ranked Panthers 94-62 in non-conference action at Pepin Gym.

New Paltz falls to 0-4 and will look to bounce back after the Thanksgiving Break, traveling to Springfield on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. The Panthers, meanwhile, improve to 3-0 on the young season.

Junior guard Dylan Balducci led the scoring for the Hawks, netting 12 points behind a trio of three-pointers off the bench, while freshman forward/center Nick Arthur scored 10 points. Freshman guard Emilio Cerda notched nine points in relief and senior forward Andrew Seniuk chipped in eight points and four boards.

Sophomore guard Malik Seelal contributed seven points off the bench, going 5-of-7 from the charity stripe, and sophomore Cory Garcia dished out a team-high three assists.

Middlebury had four players finish in double figures, with Matt St. Amour leading the way with 27 points behind 6-of-10 shooting from long range.

New Paltz fell behind 14-2 but battled to back get within nine points, 17-8 with 15:19 to play in the first half. Unfortunately, the Panthers enjoyed a 20-0 run through the opening period to take a commanding 56-22 lead at intermission.

The Hawks could not get anything going offensively in the second half of play and trailed by as many as 41 points en route to the non-conference defeat to the Top-25 Panthers.