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Next in my Tremendous 24 series is a player who plays and leads the game. His life is a testament to his love for basketball, and his determination to win is unmatched. With his play and words, he is a true leader on the court, constantly pushing himself and his teammates to be their best. His leadership was a critical factor in the New Paltz Hawks Men’s Basketball team capturing their first SUNYAC title in program history in 2024, and he is the first New Paltz Hawk athlete I had the privilege to interview.
Nisakyuna’s own Sean St. Lucia.
It’s a warm, partly cloudy, sunny March 23, 2022, day in New Paltz. I go to my old car, an Infiniti G35x, to record the interview with St. Lucia as the first of many New Paltz athletes I’d interview down the line whom I met as a sports announcer my senior year in 2021-22. St. Lucia was born to his parents, Steve St. Lucia and Diane Clarke, in the small town of Niskayuna, NY, with a population of just over 23,700 in 2024.
Sean's athletic genes run deep, with his dad playing football at Syracuse and his mom playing college basketball for Drew University. He also has athletic siblings, such as his twin brother Ethan (who played basketball at Geneseo before transferring to New Paltz) and sister Kate, who played lacrosse for the college.
His parents weren’t shabby athletically themselves, with his dad playing football at Syracuse during his collegiate days and his mom playing her college basketball for Drew University. Growing up, Sean played various sports, from basketball, lacrosse, and soccer. He credited soccer to helping his hand speed, and at the time we interviewed, he admitted he just picked up tennis.
St. Lucia played for his first organized basketball team around third or fourth grade for the Junior Warriors and AAU for the Capitol District Ballers. He immediately fell in love with the game and formed bonds with new people.
“Once I started getting into basketball, I started realizing how different it was than any other sport to me. Every game for every sport I played was always fun, but once I started practicing basketball, I just kind of fell in love with it.”
St. Lucia attended Van Antwerp Middle School, where he truly started to take basketball seriously. Here, he realized he had a long way to go to get where he wanted to be as a player. He continued working on his game, and his dedication paid off when he played varsity all four seasons for the Niskayuna Warriors at Niskayuna High School.
However, the Warriors struggled mightily to win his first three seasons, posting a dismal 13-49 record. St. Lucia attributed this to a need for more accountability among the players, an experience that would shape his leadership style and commitment to the game.
“My first three years of high school was a lot of pointing fingers and a lot of just not wanting to come in and go to practice. Arguing with the coaches, arguing with teammates, and that’s what led to losing a bunch of games.”
The pain of losing kept St. Lucia motivated to continue striving to turn the program around in his final year before his college career. As one of the team leaders his senior year, under new leadership in Coach Grasso, the culture changed as he helped lead the Warriors to a 15-10 record before losing to Shenendehowa and his future teammate Lucas Seyoum in the playoffs 66-49. Despite the tough loss, St. Lucia had quite the senior season, where he achieved the following.
All-Suburban Council First Team All-Star
Third Team All-Area
2020 Scholar Athlete Of the Year
That's not bad for someone who once doubted if he wanted to play collegiately after being discarded by some teammates because he was the youngest on the team.
“When you’re that young on high school teams, a lot of the older guys don’t want to listen to you…It was kind of hard…When you're telling people things, and they kind of respond back to you like they didn’t want to hear anything from you…I didn’t know where I stood. I didn’t know if I wanted to play in college.”
I got to ask St. Lucia what playing with his twin brother Ethan was like, to whom he credited all his assists. That senior year helped grow their relationship and made them closer than ever before. Those one-on-one battles helped push each other to improve, which would only help them down the road once they paired up in college.
“Me being the point guard, I told him what to do. He hated that…All my assists mainly went to him. We got so close over my senior year and became best friends.”
St.Lucia chose New Paltz to continue his collegiate career over Oneonta because the staff was welcoming, and coach Keith Kenney made him feel wanted during high school. From there, he paired up with players like Seyoum and Rylan Blondo, whom I’d interview. However, COVID-19 interrupted his initial freshman year in 2020-21. He played his first true freshman season in 2021-22, during which he helped share lead guard duties in the backcourt alongside Blondo to guide the team to a 15-11 overall record and their first playoff appearance since 2013.
Unfortunately, the Hawks lost to their SUNYAC rival, Oswego, in a 94-60 blowout. St. Lucia and the Hawks were determined to build upon their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade the following season in 2022-23, where the Hawks went 13-14 overall. A season filled with inconsistent play that included a five-game losing streak, but they still made the postseason.
With a year of experience now, the Hawks felt confident they could bring the first SUNYAC title in program history, but Oswego stood in their way once again, defeating the Hawks, this time in a tight game 73-68 that saw 11 lead changes and the score tied seven times. The pain was all too familiar for the Hawks, this time more so considering they were so close to defeating their rivals to advance to the title game. It also was emotional with it being the final go-around for seniors such as Isaiah Bien-Aise and Brandon Scott that season, who was a part of Kenney’s first recruiting class and helped uplift the program to where they are now.
Despite the agony of defeat two consecutive years in the semifinals to the back-to-back SUNYAC champs in Oswego, the Hawks used it as extra fuel. They were out for blood, reloading their roster to overcome Oswego. They landed transfer AJ Knight, who added more depth in the backcourt alongside Blondo and Sean while adding his brother Ethan and Kobe Bogart to add more skill and size in the frontcourt.
The added acquisitions paid off, as the Hawks set records in 2023-24 for the most wins in program history (20) and conference wins (12). However, they finally achieved their ultimate goal, defeating their rival Oswego 85-80 to halt their three-peat to claim their first SUNYAC title in 96 years of the program's history. St. Lucia contributed 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists in the title game en route to being named to the All-Tournament team, helping punch an automatic bid to the NCAA DIII tournament.
The taste of revenge was bittersweet. After years of losing seasons, agony, and heartbreaking losses, it finally paid off as the players rushed to the court in jubilation on the court to celebrate a historic moment (see 2:26:36 mark).
Now, St. Lucia enters his final season with the Hawks as he looks to help them defend their SUNYAC crown and bring another title before his exit. Before games, he typically disliked listening to pre-game music. When he listens to music, he enjoys listening to Kendrick Lamar, Polo G, Lil Uzi, J Cole, etc. St. Lucia’s all-time top five are LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Hakeem Olajuwon.
One of his life goals is to give his future kids a stress-free life and a great childhood like his. When I asked him how he wanted to be remembered in March 2022, St. Lucia said he hoped to be remembered as a team player who always gave it his all.
“A team player. Anything you need to win just to lead a team. No matter what we accomplish these next three to four years, I just want people to know that I’m going to give 110 percent, and I’m going to do it with the guys I have, and I have full faith in them 100 percent of the time.
From overcoming growing pains becoming at the high school level, doubts of whether he wanted to play college ball, to overcoming the agony of losing back-to-back years to Oswego to finally overcoming the hump and helping New Paltz deliver their first title in program history. St. Lucia’s story is one of grit, resilience, overcoming adversity, and doing what leaders do… Win. That is why he embodies Greatness Within.
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