Victory mark falls as Gators beat Maritime, 78-67

February 5, 2015

Victory mark falls as Gators beat Maritime, 78-67

Maritime

5-15, 3-10 Sky

Russell Sage College

16-4,10-3 Sky

Final

Maritime 5-15, 3-10 Sky

Russell Sage College 16-4,10-3 Sky

Albany, NY –The Sage College's men's basketball team hosted the Privateers of Maritime College on Thursday night in a Skyline Conference match-up and triumphed 78-67. With the win, the 2014-2015 Gators have already surpassed last season's 15 win campaign, the most in the program's history. Sage is now 16-4 overall and 10-3 in the Skyline Conference. Maritime drops to 5-15 overall and 3-10 in the league.

Sage led 39-26 at the break and despite a strong start by the Privateers to open the second half, never trailed after Maritime scored the first bucket of the game at 19:03. Sage led by as many as 17 in the first half (27-10 at 7:53). Maritime came out strong and pulled within eight points three times from the 18:15 to 15:21 mark of the second half, before the Gators turned the momentum and took control of the action for good.

Pacing the Gators to the key Skyline win was senior Kai Deans (Miami, FL/Monsignor Pace) with his 17 points and nine rebounds. Deans now has 709 career points and is just five points shy of moving into the No. 4 spot on the Gator all-time scoring list ahead of Ryan Sager (713, 2010-2013).

Junior Travis Gill (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) added 16 points and was red hot, making 9-10 from the free throw line. Junior forward Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) added 15 points with nine rebounds as the Gators had an edge on the boards, 45-39.

Maritime's rookie guard John Liccese (Bronx, NY/Cardinal Spellman) added a team-high 16 points off the bench and was 7-7 from the line with six rebounds and six assists. Rookie forward Patrick MacDonald (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) added 15 points with six board before fouling out of the contest. Sophomore forward Isaiah Hayes (Jamaica, NY/Queens Teaching) connected for 10 points with nine rebounds and three blocks in the action.

Sage returns to action on Saturday, February 7 hosting St. Joseph's College (LI) in a 3 p.m. Skyline Conference match-up. Sage fans are encouraged to wear black on Saturday as part of the Gators' Lights Out Contest. Maritime is also home on February 7 hosting Sarah Lawrence College in a 1 p.m. Skyline game.