Alfred, N.Y. – Russell Sage College men's basketball team was on the road at Alfred University for the first round of the 2022 Empire 8 Men's Basketball Tournament. The host Saxons tallied a 75-61 win to move into the Empire 8 semifinals. The victory puts Alfred at 17-9 on the year, while RSC's season comes to and end with a 13-13 record.
Alfred jumped out to a 41-21 lead at the break and despite several strong performances by the Gators, RSC was unable to get over the first half deficit.
Gator senior guard Jalon Borders (Bartow, FL/Bartow) finished the contest with a team-best 20 points having made 7-of-16 shots from the floor with four assists and four rebounds. RSC's senior guard Amani Cummings (Brooklyn, NY/Transit Tech) tallied 19 points after he tallied three three-pointers (3-4) and 8-13 from the floor.
Senior forward/center Stuart Phair (Canberra, Australia/Tyler Christian School), had a team-best eight rebounds with nine points and a pair of blocked shots.
Senior forward Fethener Aime (Palm Coast, FL/Flagler Palm Coast) added seven boards with six points and a block for RSC, while senior guard Tyler Mitchell (Bronx, NY/All Hallows) added five steals with four points and three rebounds.
Alfred which shot 54.5% from the floor for the game (30-55) was also hot from three-point range. The Saxons made 9-of-18 three-point baskets and got 20 points from Brewster Marshall as he made 8-of-11 shots from the floor. Adam Enders got 15 points as all 15 points came from downtown as he was 5-7 from beyond the arc.
Alfred advances to the Semifinals to face top seeded Utica College on February 25 at 5:30 p.m.
For the Gators, Phair finishes his career second all-time with 109 career blocked shots, while ranking sixth in career rebounding (436), 10th in scoring with 612 and 10th in career appearances (83) and eighth in starts (59).
Borders wraps his stellar career having finished as the program's third all-time leading scorer with 1,095 points. He also is fifth with 72 career starts, 12th in appearances (78), eighth in rebounds (388), as well as third in scoring average with a 14.0 career point per game average.
Tuesday's contest also marked the final appearance for several of the 2021-2022 team's seniors. Included in the senior class is senior co-captain Jason Geronimo (Orlando, FL/Colonial) ranks ninth in rebounds (381), sixth in rebounds per game average (6.0), 18th in career appearance (64) as well as standing 17th with 34 career starts. Cummings finishes 13th in career scoring with 589 points, while standing 16th with 47 made three-point field goals, 14th in appearances (69) and 18th in starts (33). Senior guard Tyler Mitchell ranks 19th with his 36 made three-point shots, while his 75 career steals is 10th best. Mitchell ranks 20th in appearances with 58, while having made 38 career starts which is 16th best. Graduate player Josh Gonzalez (Albany, NY/Canajoharie) added 406 career points which is 22nd best, while collecting 297 career rebounds (No. 12), with 65 appearances (No. 18). Senior Ryan Long (Averill Park, NY/Averill Park), an NABC Honors Court honoree, played in 29 games as a Gator over the past two seasons.
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