Buffalo State’s men’s basketball program (0-21, 0-14 SUNYAC) lost a close match, 74-66, against SUNY New Paltz (17-5, 11-4 SUNYAC) on Tuesday as the defense could not hold on in the final quarter.

The game was originally scheduled for Jan. 13, but was rescheduled due to a lake effect snowstorm that struck Buffalo. The match was moved to Cortland to accommodate travel.

Nigel Burch led the Bengals with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Matt Parkinson added 13 points, seven rebounds and an assist while Corcel Smallhorne added 12 points, three boards and one assist.

Burch and Maley McCurty went on a 10-2 run to start the first half before a three from Burch and a jumper from Bryce Williams gave the Bengals a 15-7 lead with 13:39 before the break.

New Paltz responded with an 11-3 run to tie the game at 18-apiece. The teams traded buckets and tied the game at 20-apiece and 22-apiece before the Bengals jumped out to a 9-2 run to snag a 31-24 advantage.

Remi Skvorc had a layup and Burch netted four from the charity stripe before Parkinson made a layup to close out the first half 39-34, in favor of the Bengals.

The Hawks started the second half with a 23-4 run to take a 56-43 lead over the Bengals with 13:36 left in the game. Buffalo State was scoreless for over three minutes during that time and had five turnovers.

Parkinson and Smallhorne had back-to-back threes before Smallhorne and Elijah Umeh netted layups to trail by seven. New Paltz went on an 8-1 run before the Bengals responded with a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to five with 2:45 to play.

Buffalo State could not hold on and lost 74-66, which is the program’s 42nd loss in a row.

The Bengals were 22-of-58 from the field, 4-of-18 from beyond the arc and 18-of-24 from the charity stripe. Buffalo State had 32 points in the paint, 11 second-chance points, 14 fastbreak points and had 16 points off of nine turnovers.

The Bengals return to their home court on Friday to face off against SUNY Plattsburgh. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.