SUNY New Paltz Men’s Basketball Secures Program’s First SUNYAC Championship
Hawks knock off No. 5 nationally ranked and top-seeded Oswego Lakers, 85-80 in conference finals
Story Links
Oswego, NY — For the first time ever, the State University of New York at New Paltz men’s basketball team are SUNYAC Champions.
In a storybook-like climax where the title game pitted the No. 2 seeded Hawks, who earned just their third appearance in a conference championship game, the last coming in 2003 where most of the guys on the roster were yet to be born, against the No. 5 and top seeded Oswego Lakers, a program looking for the coveted three-peat of championships.
With odds stacked against them, SUNY New Paltz overcame a 14-point second half deficit to pull what arguably was the biggest upset in the country this season to claim an 85-80 win and hoist the 2024 SUNYAC trophy.
The first half was tight between the two teams with the Hawks holding the slight advantage throughout most of the opening 20 minutes. A transition dunk by Tyreik Frazier pushed SUNY New Paltz out in front by eight with just more than seven minutes to go off a dish by Dakoda Smith.
The Lakers came back to regain the lead in the final two minutes. Kobe Bogart re-upped the advantage for the Hawks, as he got his shot to go underneath the basket, but Oswego scored five in the final 30 seconds capped with a long-ranged 3-pointer by Jeremiah Sparks to end the half.
The momentum carried over to the second half where Sparks instigated an 11-0 run, including eight unanswered, which helped establish the hosts largest lead of the day at 60-46 with about 14 minutes left. Smith and Bogart helped swing control over to the Hawks on back-to-back hustle plays. First, Smith pulled down an offensive board off an initial miss by Alex Krupinski from 3, muscling his put-back in to end the Oswego run. Bogart then immediately won the ball back on a steal and capitalized on the other end with a try off a feed by Sean St. Lucia to work the difference down to single digits.