Albany, NY — The Gators of The Sage Colleges collected a 72-67 win over Utica College on Saturday afternoon in Empire 8 action. The win puts Sage at 15-10 overall and 8-6 in the league, while Utica stands at 18-7 overall and 9-5 in the league.
Sage led at the half, 39-31 as sophomore guard Jalon Borders (Bartow, FL/Bartow) collected 12 points off the bench for the Gators. He shot 60.0% in the first half after making 6-of-10 shots off the bench as Sage combined to shoot 45.9%, while holding Utica to just 29.4% (10-34). He finished the game with 25 points, just one shy of tying his personal best of 26 points. He made 8-of-14 shots from the floor, while making 8-of-10 from the line.
Utica's rookie guard Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) led the Pioneers with 10 first half points.
Utica gradually clawed back into the game, tying it for the first time in the second half at the 4:38 mark as the two teams were tied at 59-59. The two teams would be tied again at 61-61, before Sage jumped out to a 65-61 lead as Borders hit two free throws at 1:28.
Senior Darius Denmark (Orlando, FL/Evans) hit a pair of free throws at 0:32 to give Sage a 68-63 lead. By game's end Sage made 74.1% from the line, converting 20-of-27 free throws. Senior guard/forward Anthony Mitchell (Bronx, NY/Salesian) added eight points with seven rebounds in the contest.
Utica was led by the play of Brantley who finished with 18 points after making 7-of-11 from the floor, while junior Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) finished with 14 points and sophomore guard Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton) netted 10 points.
For the Gators, Anthony Mitchell is now 10th in scoring with 583 points, seventh in rebounding (373), fourth in assists (176), eighth in blocks (46), and is now ninth in games played with 83. He is also currently No. 2 with 110 steals. Denmark is now 12th in scoring with 507 points, while ranking seventh in games played (86), No. 3 with 85 made three pointers, and fifth in assists (169).
Sage, which secured the program's first Empire 8 Playoff berth opens play on Friday, February 28 facing top seeded Nazareth College in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Utica the third seed, will face St. John Fisher College next Friday on the campus of Nazareth in the 7 p.m. semifinal contest. The two winners will meet at 4 p.m. on February 29 with the winner garnering the Empire 8's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.