Albany, NY – The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team hosted the Kangaroos of SUNY-Canton in the Kahl Gym on Tuesday night in a non-conference game. Sage triumphed 89-79 to improve to 10-5, while SUNY-Canton drops to 2-10.
Sage held a 47-32 lead at the break as three Gators had eight points each, junior Kai Deans (Miami, FL/Monsignor Pace), senior Ryan LaBelle (East Berne, NY/Berne-Knox-Westerlo), and sophomore Matt LaClair (Selkirk, NY/Albany Academy). Sage shot 54.1% from the floor (20-37), while both teams had 23 rebounds in the first half of play.
Canton's freshman forward Romario Fletcher (Queens, NY/Pathways College Prep) paced the Kangaroos with his nine first half points and was 3-3 from the free throw line. Junior forward Tyler Ellison (New York, NY/New Design) was 2-2 from the floor in the first half for the Roos.
Sage's senior forward Mason Horne's (Albany, NY/La Salle Institute) had a double-double with his 15 points and 13 rebounds. He now has 1,219 career points, and is closing in on surpassing the all-time scoring mark at Sage held by Matt Farbotko (1,244 points). Horne's 13 rebounds was a personal-best, while LaClair finished with a career-high 14 points. LaBelle also had a season-best 18 points for the Gators, while Deans finished with 15 points in celebration of his birthday as he had nine rebounds and a block in the action.
Fletcher and Ellison each finished with 16 points, while Fletcher had a double-double with 10 rebounds and two blocks. Rookie guard Sam Annorh (Queens, NY/Pathways College Prep) tallied 13 points and handed out five assists.
Down the stretch SUNY-Canton pulled within five points, down 69-64 with 6:56 to play as Annorh hit a clutch three-point basket, but Sage answered right back and pulled away leading by as many as 16 (84-68, 1:42 as LaClair made back to back free throws and was 6-8 in the second half from the free throw line.
Sage will return to action on January 23 hosting Purchase College in a 7 p.m. Skyline Conference game in Kahl Gym. The evening is Secret Swamp Night and in addition to contests for Ugly Sweaters and Ugly Hats, Sage will be hosting a dance show at half time as the Gators host the undefeated Panthers in a conference battle. SUNY-Canton is back in action on January 24 hosting SUNY-ESF in a 7 p.m. contest.