Annandale-On-Hudson, NY–The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team opened the new season on Tuesday evening on the road at Bard College. The Gators tallied a 90-74 win behind a strong showing by a number of performers. With the win, Sage improves to 1-0, while Bard drops to 0-1. The victory marks the 98th career win for Sage's head coach Brian Barnes, who is now 98-86 as he opens his eighth season.
Senior forward Rob Mills (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) led the Gators with his 21 points and hit 8-of-10 free throws in the action. Senior co-captain Marcus Patterson (Bronx, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) collected a double-double on 14 points with 12 rebounds. Patterson opens the 2016-2017 campaign with 544 career points which stands ninth best on the program's career record book. After Tuesday's night's performance, he now has 558 points and is making his climb into the Top 5 all-time scorers, while also making his move on the career rebounding list as well. He now has 361 career rebounds, which ranks seventh best.
Senior Davon Sylvester (Bronx, NY/cardinal Hayes) tallied 14 points with seven rebounds in his return to the lineup, while Gator newcomer, junior center Barceem Dukes (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) added nine points and eight rebounds.
Sage is back in action on Friday and Saturday, November 18 and 19 at the Eastern Connecticut State University Tip-Off Tournament. The Gators will face the Warriors of ECSU in the first round match-up at 8 p.m.