Albany, NY–The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team hosted the Panthers of SUNY-Old Westbury on Thursday night in a Skyline Conference game held at Kahl Gym. Sage tallied a 74-59 victory to improve to 9-4 overall and 7-1 in the Skyline Conference, while Old Westbury drops to 6-6 overall and 5-2 in the Skyline.
After exchanging leads in the first half until the 13 minute mark of the half, Sage went on a 9-0 run and held a 22-13 lead with 10:19 left in the half. By the half, Sage led 36-25 as senior guards Jorrdan McCray (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) and Andre Robinson (Fort Pierce, FL/Fort Pierce Westwood) as they paced the Gators with 10 points apiece. Sage shot 44.8% from the floor making 13-of-29, while also holding a 21-16 on the boards.
The Panthers were held to a 34.5% shooting performance at the half (10-29) and was paced by junior guard Jamail Stanley (Syracuse, NY/Christopher Columbus) with seven points after shooting 100% (3-3) with a three-point basket.
After pulling within six points of Sage, down 42-36 with 14:39 left to play in the action, Sage went on an 11-2 run and pulled away for the victory.
Junior Rob Mills (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) finished with a career-high 18 points off the bench, while Robinson also netted 18 points in the win. McCray tallied 13 points as well for the Gators, while senior forward Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) had seven points with nine rebounds. Ford who is Sage's all-time career rebounding leader now has 629 rebounds. He moved into the No. 4 spot in the all-time Gator scoring list with 861 points moving ahead of Jeff Stopera (860 pts., 2009-2014).
Sage's junior Marcus Patterson (Bronx, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) paced the team with 17 points and seven rebounds, senior forward Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) had 14 points with 13 rebounds. Ford who is Sage's all-time career rebounding leader now has 620 rebounds, while standing No. 5 in career scoring with 854 points and is now No. 4 on the all-time career scoring list, just six points shy of tying Jeff Stopera (860 pts., 2009-2014).
Old Westbury's Stanley led all scorers with his 23 points after making 7-for-13 from the floor and 8-of-10 from the line. Senior J.P. Page (Copiague, NY/Copiague) tallied 10 points, while junior forward Luckens Victor (Westbury, NY/Westbury) led the squad with his 10 rebounds.
Sage is back in action on January 9 travelling to St. Joseph's College (LI) for a 3 p.m. Skyline Conference contest, while SUNY-Old Westbury hosts Mt. St. Mary College in a noon Skyline Conference contest on Saturday.