Farmingdale, NY – The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team travelled to Farmingdale State College for a Skyline Conference contest with the Rams. FSC posted an 83-79 win to improve to 16-6 overall and 12-3 in the league, while Sage drops to 14-9 overall and 10-6 in the league.
Sage's point guard and graduate performer Jeff Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville), who earlier this season racked up 27 points in a game, added his name to another record after he scored 32 points in the game on Saturday. He surpassed the previous record of 28 points in a game set last year by Matt Farbotko (Nov. 20, 2012 against RPI). Stopera connected for a 9-14 effort from the floor with five three point baskets, while making 9-9 from the free throw line. He added 10 assists as well and now has 842 points and ranks No. 3 on the all-time scoring list, while holding the career marks for most assists (552), most steals (232), in 107 games played.
Tied at 40 all at the break, the two teams exchanged baskets until the game was knotted at 56-56 with 9:36 on a layup from Sage's junior forward Kai Deans (Miami, FL/Monsignor Pace). FSC went on an 8-0 run to pull away from the Gators. Sage made it interesting as they pulled back within four points, down 80 -76 with 57 seconds left to play on a three-point basket by Jacob Sopchak (Rhinebeck, NY/Rhinebeck). Stopera added pair of free throws with 45 second left and cut the deficit to two points, 81-79. FSC went to the line with Curtis Williams make a pair of free throws at 0:24 and put the game out of reach as the Gators turned the ball over in the final seconds.
For the game, Stopera added 32 points, while Deans added 17 points and sophomore Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) netted 10 points with nine rebounds, Deans added his fifth double-double and his third straight double-double effort on his 17 points and 11 rebounds.
The Gators will be back in action on February 19 travelling to Purchase College for a 7 p.m. Skyline Conference game.