Sage men tally fourth win for a new standard in success with 65-53 victory
Rutland, VT--- The Sage Colleges men's basketball team posted a 65-53 road win over St. Joseph's College on Thursday night. The victory for the Gators marks the first four-game win streak in program history for the young Gators and puts Sage at 12-10 overall. St. Joseph's drops to 11-14 on the season.
The Gators overcame a 29-26 halftime deficit and rallied for the non-conference victory as junior forward Dalton Austin-Michaud (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) tallied a double-double on 16 points and pitched in with 10 caroms, seven on the offensive glass.
Junior Pat Lanoue (Troy, NY/Hoosic Valley Central) came up strong for the team in the second half as he connected for 11 of his 19 points in the second half as Sage shot 81.0% from the line in the second half (17-21). Lanoue shot 7-of-14 from the floor, went 4-of-10 from long distance and 1-of-4 from the charity stripe to lead Sage offensively. On the boards, Lanoue brought down five rebounds and added two assists, one steal and one block.
Sophomore center Ryan Sager (Stuyvesant, NY/Ichabod Crane) added a team-best 12 rebounds in the contest after hauling down nine defensive boards.
St. Joseph's got 25 points from freshman Raheim Smalls (Brooklyn, NY), while junior KJay Jackson (Aurora, IL) added 10 points and nine rebounds. Smalls was a nearly perfect
from the field shooting 11-of-12 on the night while hitting one three-pointer and canning 2-of-3 foul shots. Jackson finished with 10 points (3-of-11 field goals, 4-of-4 free throws), nine
rebounds, one assist and one steal.
The Saints led 29-26 at halftime and held onto that lead midway through the second half before Lanoue took over.
After Austin-Michaud canned a layup at 8:46 of the second half on a beautiful feed from sophomore point guard Jeff Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville), Lanoue drained back-to-back three pointers to give the Gators a 50-45 lead and Sage never looked back.
The Gators went on an 11-0 run over the next three minutes and two seconds of play to close out the contest with the spurt being capped by a fastbreak layup from Lanoue at 4:32.
Sage will host Yeshiva University on Sunday, February 13 at 3 p.m. in the Kahl Center in a Skyline Conference game. Sage will sponsor their Jumpers for Jacob 2 contest to help raise funds for the Jacob's Angels Fund.
