ONEONTA, N.Y. – Russell Sage College began the final week of the regular season by winning 74-64 at Hartwick this evening. Senior guard Tyler Mitchell (Bronx, NY/All Hallows) (above) topped the Gators with a career-high 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting in the Empire 8 Conference victory. He added six rebounds, five steals, and three assists.
Senior forward/center Stuart Phair (Canberra, Australia/Tyler Christian School) contributed 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, four blocks, and nine rebounds, while senior guard Jalon Borders (Bartow, FL/Bartow), third on the program's career scoring chart, dished out ten assists, also a career-best.
Hartwick (1-20/1-12 E8) put four players in twin figures. Junior forward Liam Drennan recorded 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and eight rebounds to lead the quartet.
The Gators (12-11/6-8 E8) started strong, getting out to a 14-5 lead across the opening six minutes. Hartwick battled back to go into the break trailing RSC 27-26. The E8 contest stayed close from there until the Gators obtained some breathing room on the heels of a 14-4 second half run spanning 5:31. From there, the Hawks were unable to get any closer than seven points.
Looking ahead, RSC plays next on Friday at Elmira. The E8 game is slated to begin at 7:30 pm.
Notes: Borders became just the fourth Gator to score his 1,000th career point on Feb. 6 at St. John Fisher…The two-time first-team All-Conference pick sits third in program records with 1,052 career points. Phair, who currently ranks second in program records for career blocks with 107, and senior forward Jason Geronimo (Orlando, FL/Colonial) are captains on the year's team…The pair both rank in the top eight on the program's career rebounding chart.
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