Albany, NY—The Sage Colleges' men's basketball team hosted the Saxons of Alfred University on Saturday afternoon in an Empire 8 contest. Alfred escaped with an 80-79 victory over Sage to improve to 16-6 overall and 9-4 in the Empire 8. The loss puts Sage at 10-13 overall and 5-9 in the league.

Alfred led 44-32 at the half, but the Gators played a tough second half outscoring the Saxons, 47-36. Sage had a chance to win the game as with 1.6 seconds left, senior center Barceem Dukes (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) went to the line to shoot two and missed them both and Alfred's sophomore guard Sam Dagon (Hornell, NY/Hornell) collected the defensive rebound to save the Alfred win as time expired.

Sage led by five points with 1:49 left to play, 78-73, but junior guard Sage Brown (Cortland, NY/Cortland) hit a three-pointer at 0:44 to cut the Gators' lead to one point, 79-78 and then at 0:15 Dagon hit a layup to give Alfred the 80-79 lead. Sage was unable to convert in the final seconds and fell at the buzzer to Alfred.

Sage's junior center Kevin Lenehan (Delanson, NY/Duanesburg) had 22 points with 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, while Dukes added 17 points with seven rebounds and a blocked shot.  Sophomore Isaiah Scurry (Albany, NY/Albany) picked up 16 points with six rebounds. Senior Jordan DeVaughn (Jacksonville, FL/Flora McDonald Academy) picked up 11 points for the Gators.

Alfred was paced by the play of senior forward Dalton Cousin (Sherrill, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) with a double-double on 23 points with 11 rebounds including nine defensive boards.  Sophomore guard Derek Schmidt (Olean, NY/Olean) added 18 points, while Dagon finished with 11 points.