BUFFALO, NY – Roderick Epps (Uniondale, NY/Uniondale) scored 26 points and pulled down seven rebounds to help lead Buffalo State (10-6, 6-4 SUNYAC) to a 95-89 victory over New Paltz (7-8, 5-3) in a battle on Saturday afternoon at Buffalo State Sports Arena.

Epps led the way offensively, while Chris Cartwright (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) added 20 points and seven assists. Lovell Smith (Buffalo, NY/McKinley) tallied 18 points and Larry Rivers (Syracuse, NY/Fowler) chipped in 14. Derrick Fernandez (Bronx, NY/Herbert H. Lehman) recorded a career-high and team-best 10 assists and also had three steals.

New Paltz jumped out to a 4-0 lead with two quick layups in the opening minute of play. Cartwright stepped up early for the Bengals, scoring three straight 3-pointers in just over two minutes to tie the game up, 9-9, at 16:47. The Hawks managed to go back up by four a minute later, but a free throw from Smith at 14:14 gave the Bengals their first lead of the game.

Both teams continued to battle, trading the lead back-and-forth. With 3:19 left in the first half, New Paltz went up 36-31. However, the Bengals quickly responded and took back the lead, 39-38, with one minute on the clock. Buffalo State held onto a one-point lead heading into halftime.

The game stayed close early in the second half. Epps scored a layup at 13:38 that started the Bengals on a 5-0 run and extended their lead to nine points, 62-53. Buffalo State would go up 10 points three times in the final ten minutes of play. New Paltz cut Buffalo State's lead to four, but with only two seconds left ran out of time.

Buffalo State finished the night shooting 34.3 percent from long range, 33.3 percent from outside the arc and just 48 percent (12-of-25) from the charity stripe. The Bengals won the rebounding battle 45-36 and forced the Hawks into 20 turnovers.  

The Bengals will return to action on Friday at 5:30 p.m. for a SUNYAC matchup at Plattsburgh.