Riverdale, NY – The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team travelled to the College of Mt. St. Vincent for a Skyline Conference match-up on Monday night. The Gators were paced by the play of graduate performer Jeff Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) erupted for a personal-best 27 points as Sage won 97-79. Sage improves to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference, while Mt. St. Vincent drops to 1-10 overall and 0-5 in the Skyline Conference.
The Gators have now scored 90 or more points this season six times and own a combined 90.8 ppg average, which is first among the Skyline Conference.
At the half, Stopera had 15 points as the Gators led 49-41 at the break. By game's end, Stopera had racked up 27 points making 15 of 20 free throws, both of which are Sage single-game records. His 27 points also ranks No. 2 all-time for single-game point performances, while he broke the free throws made mark (13) and free throws attempted standard (17) along the way.
Sage had five players finish in double digit scoring as well as junior center Jacob Sopchak (Rhinebeck, NY/Rhinebeck) also connected for a career-high as he had 19 points and connected for four blocks in the action, elevating his season total to 16 and his career total to 42, which is No. 3 on the Gator career list.
For the game, Sage got 16 points from senior Mason Horne (Albany, NY/LaSalle Institute) as added a double-double with 10 rebounds, while sophomore Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) added 17 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Troy Nwanna (Washington, DC/Mercersburg Academy) added 10 points, while Sage combined for 53 rebounds and held a 53-43 edge in rebounding.
Sage will return to action on January 9 hosting NYU-Poly in 7 p.m. Skyline Conference game to be held at Kahl Gym.