Albany, NY – The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team travelled next door to face the Albany College of Pharmacy in the Battle of New Scotland Avenue. The visiting Gators were victorious as they collected an 87-60 win.
Sage's leading Sage on the evening was junior forward Kai Deans (Miami, FL/Monsignor Pace) as he had a double-double on 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Sage's senior forward Mason Horne (Albany, NY/LaSalle Institute) added 14 points, while senior guard Ryan LaBelle (East Berne, NY/Berne-Knox-Westerlo) picked up 13 points after he hit four-of-eight shots from three-point range. Sophomore forward Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) added 10 points with eight rebounds to help the Gators to the team's second straight win on the young season.
After falling behind 4-0 to start the game, ACPHS went on a 6-0 spurt to take its only lead of the night on a jumper fom senior forward Casey Redfern with 16:21 to play in the first half. The Gators would immediately seize control permanently, however, as a Ryan LaBelle three-pointer on Sage's next possession jumpstarted a 14-0 run for the visitors.
ACPHS cut the deficit to five points when McVaigh knocked down a three-pointer with 8:48 to go in the half to make the score 20-15. Sage answered right back with a 10-0 run, eventually stretching its lead to 17 points and ultimately taking a 36-21 lead into the half.
Sage dictated the pace the entire second half, pushing its lead to 25 and then 30 points before the final buzzer sounded with the Gators ahead 87-60. Co-captain Jeff Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) dished out a game-high eight assists to go along with nine points.
Redfern tallied a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double to support McVaigh's efforts for the Panthers while junior guard John Tremblay finished with 12 points.
NOTES: The Panthers shot just 1-17 from distance (5.9 percent)…ACPHS went 23 for 36 from the free throw stripe (63.9 percent)…Sage now leads the all-time "Battle of New Scotland Avenue" series 3-1 following an ACPHS victory last season.
Sage will return to action on November 23 travelling to Southern Vermont College for a 3 p.m. non-conference match-up.