BOXSCORE FREDONIA, N.Y. -- The Fredonia State men's basketball team dropped its opening game of SUNYAC play in double overtime, 92-87, to New Paltz on Friday.
Tyrone Clark (Elmira) scored 22 points for the Blue Devils, connecting on 7 of 13 from the field and 6 of 6 from the charity stripe.
Joe Monahan (Floral Park) had 21 points including 4 of 10 from three point range and 3 steals.
Amir Billups (Buffalo) scored 15 points, knocking down 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.
New Paltz was led by Deveino McRae who scored 23 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Matt Devine scored 22 points.
The Blue Devils took a 39-32 lead into the half.
New Paltz tied the game up at the 16:33 mark of the second half after Shereef Taylor hit three consecutive free throws. The two teams battled back and forth the rest of the half, exchanging leads multiple times.
With four minutes remaining in regulation -- trailing 61-60 -- Clark went up for a dunk and was fouled hard by Shalik Jenkins. Clark hit both free throws to give Fredonia State the lead.
Devine hit a deep three for New Paltz with 1:48 left, regaining the lead, 66-64. Matt DeBoy (Salamanca) rebounded and laid in an attempted three by Billups to tie it back up 66-66. McRae hit a shot to give the edge back to the Hawks with 24 seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession Clark was fouled during a shot and made both free throws.
As time expired the Hawks' Taylor Sowah converted a layup near the buzzer. The three referees conferred and waived the shot off.
In the first overtime, Monahan hit a deep three with the shot clock winding down and 54 seconds left to tie the game at 78 all.
New Paltz's Jenkins converted two free throws and the Blue Devils' Clark hit a layup with 19 seconds left to send the game to double overtime with the score tied at 80.
Four lead changes occurred during the first overtime session, Clark contributed nine points.
The second overtime opened up with another three by Devine followed by a Monahan to Clark alley-oop to get the crowd fired up. A foul followed by a technical foul resulted in three Fredonia State points to tie the game at 85.
Jenkins hit a three with 37 seconds remaining to make it 88-85 New Paltz as the Hawks would hold the lead the rest of the way.
Fredonia State falls to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in SUNYAC play. The Blue Devils play host to Oneonta Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in the Steele Hall Field House.
