Albany, NY—The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team hosted the Mariners of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Skyline Conference play on Saturday afternoon in Kahl Gym. Sage cruised to a 76-66 victory to improve to 6-6 overall and 2-1 in the league. Kings Point falls to 4-9 overall and 1-4 in the conference. Sage used a 36-26 lead at the break to earn the team's second straight win and start 2017 off on a 2-0 mark.

The Gators led by as many 14 points twice in the first half and despite a slight scoring lapse in the second half as the Mariners pulled to within 9 (40-31, 18:15) used a series of scoring runs to lead by as many as 23 points twice in the second half (64-41, 8:24 and 66-43, 7:17).

For the Gators, senior forward Marcus Patterson (Bronx, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) added a team-best 16 points with eight boards after making 6-of-7 field goals. Patterson now sports points. Patterson is the program's sixth all-time leading scorer with 733 points. He also ranks fifth all-time in rebounding with 447 boards, while his 87 career games played in sixth best as well.

Senior forward Davon Sylvester (Bronx, NY/Cardinal Hayes) connected for 14 points with two steals, a pair of assists and a block, while junior center Thiago Conceicao (El Portal, FL/Westwood Christian) paced the Gators with 13 rebounds. Junior forward Frane Larose (Miami, FL/North Miami Beach Senior) added 13 points for the Gators.

Kings Points' senior guard Hunter Jones (Goodyear, AZ/Millennium) added a game-leading 25 points with his impressive second half surge that featured 23 points in the second stanza alone. Rookie guard Connor Green (Flower Mound, TX/Flower Mound) hauled in 10 boards with eight points.

Sage is back in action on January 11 hosting the Mariners of Maritime College in a 7:30 p.m. home Skyline Conference contest at Kahl Gym.