BUFFALO, NY – Niasha Houpe (Rochester, NY/William Floyd) pulled down an offensive rebound and scored a layup with eight seconds left in the game to give Buffalo State (9-8, 6-4 SUNYAC) a 69-68 conference win over New Paltz (9-6, 5-3 SUNYAC) on Saturday afternoon at the Buffalo State Sports Arena.

Brittnee Perry (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) led the way offensively for Buffalo State with 16 points. Olivia Luciani (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minoa) added 13 points and three assists, while Houpe recorded her first career double-double of the season with 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Hillary Kollar (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown) tallied a career-tying 10 rebounds.

The score remained close in the opening minutes of play. Buffalo State took control at 14:10 and went on a 9-0 run. At 11:12, the Bengals were up 18-10 and continued to hold onto their lead. A free throw from Keyonte Edwards (Buffalo, NY/O'Hara) at 1:28 gave Buffalo State its largest lead of the game, 32-21 and the Bengals would head into halftime still up by 11.

In the second half, Buffalo State pushed its lead out to 18 off a 3-pointer from Luciani at 14:04. With lots of time left in the game, however, the Hawks fought back and turned it up on offense. New Paltz tied the game up, 63-63, at 2:57 after outscoring the Bengals 18-8 on a run that started at 10:41. The Hawks would go up by two points, but free throws from Houpe and Ashley Wallace (Lockport, NY/Starpoint) tied things back up with 1:37 to play. A free throw from Perry at 45 seconds put the Bengals up by two points, 67-65, but New Paltz quickly went down the court and sank a three to take back the lead, 68-67. A missed layup from Buffalo State seemed to be the end of the game, but Houpe battled inside for the rebound and the game-winning layup with just eight seconds left.

The Bengals finished the game shooting 35 percent from the floor, 22.2 percent from long range and 67.6 percent from the free throw line. New Paltz forced the Bengals into 26 turnovers, but Buffalo State finished with a 59-38 advantage in total rebounds.

Buffalo State will return to action on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. SUNYAC matchup at Plattsburgh.