Robinson's clutch three-pointer lifts Sage past SJC, 68-67

Robinson's clutch three-pointer lifts Sage past SJC, 68-67

Albany, NYThe Sage Colleges' men's basketball team hosted the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's College (LI) and survived with a 68-67 win on Skyline Conference play on Saturday. With the win, Sage improves to 13-7 overall with a record of 11-4 in conference play. SJC falls to 7-12 overall with a 6-8 record in league play.

Sage's senior Andre Robinson (Fort Pierce, FL/Fort Pierce Westwood) hit a three-pointer with just :12 left in game to give Sage the 68-67 lead, just seconds after sophomore forward Isaiah Moore (North Babylon, NY/North Babylon) hit a three-pointer at :22 to give his team a 67-65 lead.

In the first half, SJC's junior Andy Laurent (Amityville, NY/Amityville) buried a three-point basket as the time expired to give his team the 38-34 lead heading into the locker room. With the lead at the intermission, the Golden Eagles were paced by Moore as he had 13 points and was 5-8 from the floor with a 3-3 performance at the free throw line. Junior forward Fernando Vazquez (Babylon, NY/Babylon) had eight points as well as SJC opened the action with a strong performance as there were five ties, the last coming at 12:03 as the teams were knotted at 14 points each. SCJ went on a 7-0 run and led by as many as seven, 21-14 (9:22) and despite a run by the Gators, never lost the lead in the first half. Sage pulled within one on two separate occasions, 32-31 (1:13) as Robinson hit a three-pointer and at 0:25 when senior guard Jorrdan McCray (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) buried a three-pointer.

By game's end, Sage and SJC played to 11 ties, while the Golden Eagles led by as many seven points (55-48, 11:52). Sage chipped away at the lead and after Robinson tied the action with his two free throws at 3:41 (61-61). In the final three minutes of play there were four lead changes before Sage emerged with the thrilling win.

McCray finished with 16 points, while Robinson hauled in 14 points. Seniors Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) and Travis Gill (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) each tallied 10 points, while junior Rob Mills (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) tallied eight point. Ford continues his climb on the program's career scoring list as he is No. 3 with his 914 career points, while owning the career rebounding record with his 689 boards.

SJC's Moore led all players with his 21 points, while Vazquez picked up 17 points and Laurent tallied 15 points.

Sage is back in action on February 3 hosting St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn at 8 p.m. in a Skyline Conference match-up. St. Joseph's College (LI) hosts SUNY-Old Westbury at 8 p.m. on Wednesday in a Skyline Conference game.