Purchase, NY—The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team returned to Skyline Conference play on Wednesday night with a visit to Purchase College.  Sage collected the 87-81 road win to improve to 5-6 overall and stand at 1-1, while Purchase drops to 4-7 overall and 0-2 in the league.

Sage held a 42-38 lead at the break as the first half featured six ties and two lead changes for each squad. Junior center Thiago Conceicao (El Portal, FL/Westwood Christian) paced the Gators with all seven of his points in the first half, while junior guard Wayne Weir (Bronx, NY/Samuel Gompers) added eight points. As a team Sage combined to shoot 80.0% from three-point range in the first half, converting 4-of-5 shots.

By game's end, senior forward Davon Sylvester (Bronx, NY/Cardinal Hayes) finished with a team-leading 25 points. Sylvester, who earned Skyline Player of the Week honors on Monday, hit 9-13 from the floor.  Weir racked up 13 points, while senior forward Marcus Patterson (Bronx, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) added 14 points. Patterson moved into the No. 6 spot on the career scoring mark with 717 points, moving ahead of Ryan Sager (713 points, 2010-2013).

Down the stretch, Purchase pulled within two points 83-81 in the final minute of the game, before Sage's junior guard Frane Larose (Miami, FL/North Miami Beach Senior) earned a trip to the free throw line with :16 left to play. Larose made both shots, giving Sage an 85-81 lead and got a return trip with 0:04 left on another foul and made two more shots giving Sage the 87-81 win. Larose finished with nine points for the game.

Sage is back in action on January 7 hosting the Mariners of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in a 3 p.m. home Skyline Conference contest at Kahl Gym.