Springfield, MA--- Sage's men's basketball team was in action on Friday night in the opening round of the Golden Bear Hoop Classic on the campus of Western New England University. The Gators faced Trinity College (CT) in the opener and fell to the Bantams, 81-64. Sage drops to 1-1, while Trinity improves to 1-0.
Trinity's rookie guard Varun Ram (Clarksville, MD/River Hill) netted 19 points to lead his squad to the win as his squad shot an impressive 53.1% from the floor on the night.
The Trinity Bantams led 37-26 at the break as rookie guards Ram and Jon Seltzer (Penn Valley, PA/Lower Merion) paced the team with 12 points and Ram made four-of-five shots from three-point range. Trinity shot an impressive 53.6% from the floor in the first half as they converted 15-of 28 shots and held a narrow 14-12 edge on the boards as Sage was limited to 42.1% shooting (8-19).
Senior Ian Austin-Michaud (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) racked up 16 points and seven rebounds for the Gators, while sophomore guard Mason Horne (Albany, NY/La Salle Institute) tallied 14 points. Horne had nine points in the first stanza, while junior guard Jeff Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) had seven points en route to his nine points and five assists.
Trinity had four players finish in double-digits scoring and benefit from an edge on the boards (36-28), while converting 21-of-29 free throws on the night.
Down the stretch, the Gators trailed by 20 (49-29 with 14:27 left) and pulled within 10 points twice in the final five minutes but could not get any closer.
Sage returns to action on November 19 at the Western New England University Golden Bear Hoop Classic and will participate in the 1 p.m. consolation game against Norwich University.
