Albany, NY – The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team hosted the Maccabees of Yeshiva University on Sunday afternoon in a Skyline Conference match-up and came away with a 73-70 win. Sage improves to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the Skyline, while Yeshiva drops to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the league.
Sage led 36-26 at the break, before Yeshiva took a 40-39 lead at 16:40 on a layup from junior Shelby Rosenberg (Woodmere, NY/HAFTR). The two teams exchanged baskets and the Gators went on a run taking a 13 points lead (60-47, 8:26). Yeshiva used a run of their own to pull within two points, down 72-70 with 11 second left to play before Sage's graduate student Jeff Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) made one of two free throws. A last second attempt by rookie guard Yisrael Felf (Teaneck, NJ/Yeshiva HS for Boys) missed the mark and prevent a buzzer tying shot.
For the game, Sage got 22 points from sophomore Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) as he finished with a double-double hauling in 11 rebounds with two blocked shots. Junior Kai Deans (Miami, FL/Monsignor Pace) added 10 points, while senior guard Ryan La Belle (East Berne, NY/Berne-Knox-Westerlo) connected for 11 points with five rebounds.
Sage shots 51.8% from the floor (29-56), while holding Yeshiva to a 45.5% effort from the floor (25-55) and kept the Maccabees cold from three-point range (9-22).
Yeshiva got a double-digit scoring performance from Feld as he had a game-high 28 points and made five three-pointers along the way. Senior guard Benjy Ritholtz (West Hempstead, NY/Hebrew Academy of Nassau) finished with 21 points.
Sage will return to action on January 4 travelling to St. Joseph's (LI) for a 3 p.m. road Skyline Conference game. Yeshiva University is back in action on December 10 hosting Purchase College in a 7 p.m. Skyline game.