Gators fall short to Maritime, 84-71
Matt Farbotko tallied 22 points but it was not enough as the Gators' rally fell short.
Albany, NY---The Sage Colleges men's basketball team hosted the Privateers of Maritime College on Thursday night in the Kahl Campus Center. Maritime's senior guard Andre Cooper (Baltimore, MD/Southwestern) paced the Privateers as he exploded for 19 points in the second half to lift his team to their ninth straight win as they tallied an 84-71 victory in conference play. Maritime improves to 17-4 overall and 13-3 in the Skyline Conference, while Sage drops to 6-16 overall and 5-13 in the conference.
Sage held their NABC "Suits for Sneakers" game to promote awareness for early cancer screening and detection as the coaching staffs of both programs wore sneakers with their suits to coach the contest.
The two teams were knotted at 30-30 at the break as Sage shot 45.8% from the floor (11-24), while holding Maritime to a 31.4% margin (11-35). Sage struggled from three-point range as they hit just one of eight attempts from beyond the arch (12.5%), while the Privateers hit 37.5% from three-point range (3-8).
Maritime opened the second half on a 21-4 run to take a 53-34 lead with 13:45 left. Cooper paced the Privateers as he added 13 of the team's 23 points in the opening 6:15 of the second half. By game's end, he finished with 23 points after making 9-of-18 field goals with a pair of three pointers and six assists.
Maritime mounted a 26 point lead twice during the second half, the last at 9:28 as they were up 66-40, but the Gators clawed their way back into the game gradually. Sage cut the lead to just seven points, down 72-65 at 2:44 as freshman Mason Horne (Albany, NY/La Salle) and freshman Matt Farbotko (Rouses Point, NY/Northeastern Clinton) combined to pace the run. Farbotko racked up 10 points during the stretch, while Horne added five of his 13 points.
Sage's Farbotko led the team at the half as he had eight points and finished with 22 points for the Gators, just one shy of his personal best. Freshman forward Marcus Hunter (Ridge, NY/Longwood) finished with seven points and was co-high rebounder for Sage with nine with Farbotko.
Maritime's junior guard Justin Bright (Brooklyn, NY/Park West) had nine points in the first half, while senior forward Adedokun Olanrewaju (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Loughlin) had eight points with five rebounds. Bright finished with 15 points with seven assists, while Olanrewaju had a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Sage returns to action on February 13 hosting St. Joseph's College in a 3 p.m. Skyline Conference game, while Maritime College hosts Purchase College on February 13 at 4 p.m.
