New Paltz Finishes Tournament Strongly With Victory Over John Jay

Over their final five halves of the 2022 Duane Davis Christmas Tournament, New Paltz looked like one of the best teams in the field.
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It was a strong showing for New Paltz on Thursday, as they took down John Jay, 68-56.

 “It’s a great win for us. They’re an AA school, a big school, and that’s a great win for us,” New Paltz head coach Danny Diklich. “We haven’t had too many close games this year, so for us to come out on the other side of a close game instead of losing like the other day against Arlington.”

New Paltz went down 7-0 quickly, but was able to respond. After being down four at the half, New Paltz was far more efficient offensively. 

“We fought hard. We fell to an early deficit but we came back,” said Tony Drewnoski. “In the second half, we just started playing together and hitting shots.”

The Huguenots outscored John Jay by 16 in the second half, capturing their second win in as many days.

“We’re resistant. We don’t give up,” Diklich said. “We thought we let one get away from us [against Arlington]. We bounced back. They’re a great group of kids, they really put forth the effort.”

New Paltz lost to Arlington by two in the quarterfinal, but bounced back with an eight-point win against FDR on Wednesday and the victory against the Patriots on Thursday. 

“We knew coming into the tournament we could compete with anyone,” Drewnoski said. “It feels like a lot of people are sleeping on us on the other side of the river, but we saw what this team could do and we brought that to this tournament.”
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Mike Lynn led New Paltz with 16 points. Stephen Carr had 14, all in the second half. 

For John Jay, they were led by Jaice Martabano who finished with 15. Gavyn Pacheco had 12.

By: Tom Seipp (@Tom_Seipp)