Albany, NY--- The Sage College's men's basketball team hosted the Mountaineers of Southern Vermont College on Wednesday night in the Kahl Center. The non-conference match-up saw the host Gators come from behind and triumph, 67-61. Sage improves to 5-4 overall, while SVC falls to 1-8.
Senior guard Pat Lanoue (Troy, NY/Hoosic Valley Central) poured in a team-high and career-high 22 points, while junior center Ryan Sager (Stuyvesant, NY/Ichabod Crane) netted a career-best 18 rebounds.
The two teams were knotted at 33-33 at the break and SVC held a 51-42 lead with 8:53 left before a Sage run produced the seventh tie of the night at 54-54 with 6:01 left to play. Junior Matt Farbotko (Rouses Point, NY/Northeastern Clinton) connected on six points in the Sage run, while Lanoue gave the Gators the lead with his three-point basket at 5:26.
SVC's junior guard Taeshon Johnson (Charlotte, NC/West Meck) added 22 points for the Mountaineers with eight rebounds and had 14 first-half points on the night. Rookie guard Jordan Santiago (Westfield, MA/Westfield) added 16 points, while another rookie, Travis Severs (Bennington, VT/Mt. Anthony) finished with 14 points and three assists with two steals.
For the game, Sage shot 50.0% from the floor (24-48) and held a commanding 43-27 edge on the boards. Farbotko, who started the night with 644 career points, now has 659 career points as the Gators' career scoring leader for the upstart NCAA Division III program.
Sage returns to action on January 7 hosting St. Joseph's College in a 3 p.m. Skyline Conference game in the Kahl Center. Southern Vermont College returns to action that same day facing Daniel Webster on the road at 3 p.m.
Saturday will be a an exciting and busy day at Sage as the Gators will be sponsoring the NCAA's Take a Kid to the Game in conjunction with the women's and men's home Skyline Conference doubleheader on January 7. The action will take place in the Kahl Campus Center on the campus of The Sage Colleges (Albany, NY) and commences with the women's contest at 1 p.m. and will continue with the men's game at 3 p.m. Sage will host the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's College (LI) and will sponsor a wide variety of activities in conjunction with the games. Admission is free!
In addition to a pair of half-time contests for children during the games, Sage will also be holding its "Tees-for-Three Contest, sponsored by Recovery Sports Grill. Sage will be handing out free t-shirts for every three-point basket made by Sage's women's and men's basketball teams at home games this season.
