Willimantic, CT–The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team travelled to Connecticut to face the Warriors of Eastern Connecticut State University in the opening match-up for the ECSU Tip-Off Tournament on Friday night.  ECSU collected an 87-70 win to improve to 1-1 on the year, while Sage drops to 1-1 on the young season.

Sage trailed 50-32 at the half, but could not get any closer than 12 points (down, 78-66 with 3:57 left) as senior co-captain Marcus Patterson (Bronx, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) collected a jumper. By night's end, Patterson exploded for a career-high 22 points in the action, bettering his previous high of 20 points from the 2015-2016 season when he faced MCLA (20 points). He was joined in double-digit scoring on the night as junior guard Wayne Weir (Bronx, NY/Samuel Gompers), senior forward Rob Mills (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy), and junior guard Frane Larose (Miami, FL/North Miami Beach Senior) all finished with double-digits. Weir finished with 15 points and shot an impressive 6-12 from the floor, while Mills added 14 points, followed by Larose with 10 points for the Gators. Patterson hit a cool 14-15 from the free throw line in the game.  

Patterson has now collected 580 career points, just 15 points shy of surpassing Andre Robinson (594, 2014-2016) as the No. 8 all-time scorer at Sage. He added 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double elevating his career rebounding number to 371 boards, which ranks No. 7 at Sage.  

ECSU's Kendall Marquez led all scorers with his 26 points off the bench after hitting 8-12 shots from the floor with an impressive 4-8 from three-point range and a 6-6 showing from the charity stripe.

Sage is back in action on Saturday, November 19 at the Eastern Connecticut State University Tip-Off Tournament. The Gators will face the either Salem State or Middlebury College in Saturday's 1 p.m. contest.