Albany, NY–The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team hosted the Knights of Mt. St. Mary College in a Skyline Conference game in Kahl Gym on Thursday. After trailing 39-34 at the half, Sage used a strong second half to collect the 98-83 win and remain a top the Skyline standings. Sage improves to 10-5 overall and 8-2 in the league, while MSMC drops to 5-9 overall and 3-7 in the league.
Sage's junior Rob Mills (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) led the Gators with his career-high 24 points after tallying just eight points in the first half and was one six players that finished in double-digits for Sage.
MSMC's team held a 39-34 lead at the half as sophomore guard Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, NY/Sachem East) had nine points, while three different players had six points apiece. Rookie forward T.J. Patsalos (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy), rookie guard Connor Bacci (Bayside, NY/St. Francis Prep), and sophomore Andrew Holmes (Niskayuna, NY/Shaker) all had six points in the first half, while Patsalos had five first half rebounds. The Knights had 12 fast-break points in the first half with 13 points off second chances and held the Gators to a 38.9% mark from the floor (14-36).
Sage's Mills and senior forward Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) connected for eight points in the first half. Ford had seven first half boards with six offensive boards.
The Gators used a strong second half and overtook the Knights at 16:24, 48-46 on a Mills three-point basket. Sage never trailed and led by as many as 16 points twice (72-56, 7:21) and again at 89-73 with 1:58 left to play.
Ford fouled out with 4:23 but not before tallying a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds. Ford, who now has 881 career points and is the Gators' third all-time leading scorer, while holding the program's all-time leading rebounder with 648 boards.
After their poor first-half shooting Sage emerged from the locker room on fire and hit a red hot 66.7% from the floor (18-27) as well as 80.0% from the line (20-30).
Junior Marcus Patterson (Bronx, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) added 17 points with 13 rebounds, while senior guards Jorrdan McCray (Orlando, FL/Wekiva), Travis Gill (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian), and Andre Robinson (Fort Pierce, FL/Fort Pierce Westwood) added 11 points each.
Patsalos had a double-double finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Bacci netted 13 points. Wolff tallied 12 points, while sophomore guard Tyler McDine (Suffern, NY/Suffern) added 11 points with four assists as the Knights were held to just 34.2% from the floor in the second half (13-38), while being held to 21.4% from three-point range (3-14).
The Gators are back in action on the road at Farmingdale State College for a 3 p.m. Skyline Conference contest.