Pittsford, NY — The Sage Colleges men's basketball team traveled to St. John Fisher College for an Empire 8 match-up with the Cardinals. Sage stunned SJFC as they posted a 77-73 road win and handed the Cardinals just their second E8 setback on the year. With the win, Sage secured a spot in the upcoming Empire 8 post-season tournament, their first in their three seasons in the league. Sage, winners of four in a row, improve to 14-9 overall and 7-5 in the league, while SJFC drops to 15-8 overall and 10-2 in the conference.
Sage led 42-32 at the half and held a 16 point lead midway through the first half over SJFC (23-7, 11:34). Down the stretch, in the second half, there were four ties and the host Cardinals took a one point lead, 72-71 as Dennis Hare hit a layup at 0:33. Sage answered back with a jumper from sophomore guard Jalon Borders (Bartow, FL/Bartow) at 0:30 giving the Gators a 73-72 lead. Sophomore Fethener Aime (Palm Coast, FL/Flagler Palm Coast) dunked at 0:07 to give Sage a 75-72 lead before sophomore Deonte Sherwood (Orange Park, FL/Oakleaf) sunk a pair of free throws at the end of the game to seal Sage's victory.
Borders, this week's Empire 8 Player of the Week finished with 15 points with seven rebounds, three assists and a block, while sophomore forward Charles Davis (Bronx, NY/Fannie Lou Hamer), this week's Empire 8 Rookie of the Week, netted 12 points with five rebounds and was 4-4 from the floor. Sherwood had 13 points for Sage after making 5-of-9 from the floor with six rebounds and three assists. Aime also connected for a team-best nine rebounds with 12 points. Sophomore Tyler Mitchell (Bronx, NY/All Hallows) scored 10 points with four assists and three steals as Sage combined to shoot 52.5% from the floor on the night (32-61).
Senior guard/forward Anthony Mitchell (Bronx, NY/Salesian) added six points with six rebounds for Sage as he moves his way up the Sage career scoring and rebounding lists. Anthony Mitchell is 10th in scoring with 569 points, seventh in rebounding (363), fourth in assists (176) and seventh in blocks (45).
Sage returns to action Saturday, February 15 at Nazareth College in a 2 p.m. Empire 8 contest.