Sage rally comes close as Gators fall to St. Joe's, 84-77
A late-game comeback by the Gators failed to knock off the Golden Eagles on Saturday.
Albany, NY---The Sage Colleges men's basketball team hosted the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's College (NY) on Saturday afternoon in the Kahl Campus Center. Sophomore guard Chris Jimenez (Huntington Station, NY/St. Anthony's) led all players with his 23 points. St. Joseph's improves to 14-8 overall and 13-4 in the Skyline Conference, while Sage drops to 6-17 overall and 5-14 in the conference.
The Golden Eagles led 42-33 at the half as Jimenez) and senior guard Mike Crisci (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park) each had 11 points. Sage held a 25-20 edge on the boards in the first half despite committing 10 turnovers.
Sage's freshman forward Matt Farbotko (Rouses Point, NY/Northeastern Clinton) and freshman guard Mervin Springer (Copiague, NY/Copiague) led the team at the half as each had eight points and five rebounds.
St. Joseph's held a 21 points lead 66-45 (11:03) before the Gators racked up 16 unanswered points to pull with in five points (66-61, 6:50). Pacing Sage during the run were Matt Lee (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa) and Mason Horne (Albany, NY/La Salle Institute) as Horne had 12 second half points en route to his team-high 17 points for the game, while Lee had six after making a pair of three pointers during the Gators' run.
Sage's Farbotko converted a feed from Horne to pull Sage within three (71-68, 3:50). Crisci made a pair of free throws at 2:15 to help the Golden Eagles back to an eight point lead (76-68). Horne added a layup at 1:09 to keep it a five-point contest. Senior Sean Hyde (Shirley, NY/William Floyd) hit a pair from the line at 0:38 to make it once again a seven-point game, 78-71.
Crisci and Shahab Syed (Huntington, NY/St. Anthony's) each finished with 17 points for St. Joe's, while Hyde added 10 points after the team shot 92.3% from the line in the second half (12-13).
Springer finished with 12 points for the Gators with a team-high eight rebounds, while Farbotko had 14 points for Sage.
Sage returns to action on February 17 hosting Saint Joseph's College (VT) in a 7 p.m. non-conference game in the Kahl Center in the regular-season home finale. The Golden Eagles return to action hosting Yeshiva University in a conference game on February 14 at 7:30 p.m.
