Albany, NY — The Sage Colleges' department of athletics announced the recipients of the department's annual awards. Named the Gator of the Year for the men's basketball team at Sage is senior captain Anthony Mitchell (Bronx, NY/Salesian).
Head Men's Basketball Coach Brian Barnes stated, "Our coaching staff is honored to recognize Anthony Mitchell as our 2019-20 Gator Award honoree." He added, "Anthony's career as a student athlete is one that has been characterized by hard work, self-improvement and a desire to be successful. Anthony has exhibited a selfless attitude throughout his four years in our program and served our team exceptionally well as team captain this season. We are so proud of Anthony and are grateful for the opportunity to have coached him."
A four-year letterwinner for Sage's men's basketball team, Anthony Mitchell wrapped his stellar career with a selection to the Empire 8 Men's Basketball Sportsman Team after also guiding the team to the 2019-2020 Empire 8 playoffs for the first time in school history.
During his career, Mitchell tallied 591 points, which is 10th best in program history. He added 378 rebounds, which stands seventh. He added 178 assists (No. 4), while also adding 46 blocked shots (9th), and 113 steals (No. 2). He played 84 games as well at Sage and finishes his time at Sage ranked seventh in appearances.
Along the way in 2019-2020, he helped Sage to a 15-11 overall record after adding key wins over defending league champions, Alfred and a key road win over eventual league champs, St. John Fisher College. He finished the season with 177 points and 118 rebounds in 23 games played with 22 starts. He added 18 blocks with a personal-best 64 assists and averaged 7.7 ppg and 5.1 rpg.
Overall in 2019-2020 Sage combined to rank nationally in Division III in the Top 100 in nine different statistical categories including No. 23 in offensive rebounds per game (13.81) and No. 58 in total rebounds per game (41.08).
As a junior, he was honored with a selection to the NABC Honors Court for his excellent work in the classroom. Mitchell started 22 of 24 games played. He added 8.2 ppg with 5.3 rpg on the 2018-2019 campaign. As a sophomore, he started 17 of 25 games played and poured in a personal-best 209 points and finished the year with an 8.4 ppg average and added 5.3 rpg. He also handed out 56 assists with a team-best 51 steals as a sophomore.
In the classroom, he is an accounting major at Sage and was named to the Sage Scholar-Athlete Teams the three last years. He was also selected to the Empire 8 Presidents' List.
