TROY, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College men's basketball team (4-13, 3-7 Skyline) led by as many as 24 points in the second half, but saw that lead dwindle away before The Sage Colleges (13-4, 7-3 Skyline) managed to get it to overtime, where the Gators outscored the Knights, 13-7, to steal a victory away from the Knights by the score of 86-80 Wednesday evening at Kahl Gym.
The Knights dominated the first half, taking a 46-24 lead into the break. They scored the opening basket of the second frame to take their largest lead of the game at 48-24. The Knights led, 61-40, with 13:11 to play before Sage went on a game-changing run. The Knights went scoreless over the next five minutes, while the Gators rattled off 17 straight points to cut the deficit to just four.
The Knights got their lead back to seven points by scoring the next four, but Sage slowly crept closer before finally tying the game at 70-70 with 1:35 to play. Sage then took a 72-70 lead on an Andre Robinson layup, and added a point on the next possession on a free throw by Robinson, who missed the second to give the Knights a chance to tie with 35 second left. It did not take long for that to happen, as freshman forward
Gerard Nocera drained a three with 21 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.
Sage scored the first four points of overtime to take a 77-73 lead. The Knights played tough over the next few minutes, tying the game at 80 apiece with 2:20 to play. Melvin Ford scored on the next possession for the Gators, who then held the Knights off the board until they were forced to foul with under 30 seconds to play. Sage made both free throws on back-to-back possessions to improve its lead to six points before the final buzzer sounded.
Ford came off the bench to have a superb game for the Gators, totaling 27 points and 12 boards for a double-double. Kai Deans added 15 points and four boards, while Marcus Patterson contributed 12 points and five rebounds.
Sophomore guard
Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) paced the Knights with 20 points and four assists on the evening. Nocera followed with 18 points and six boards, while sophomore forward
Alex Smith (Marlboro, N.Y.) added 15 points, six rebounds and four helpers.
The Knights shot 53.1 percent (17-of-32) in the first half, but just 31.2 percent (10-of-32) the rest of the way. They hit 10-of-22 threes (45.5 percent) across the game's 45 minutes. Sage shot 62.5 percent (20-of-32) in the second half to fuel its substantial comeback, but made just 3-of-22 (13.6 percent) from long range in the game.
The Knights get a few days to recover from Wednesday's loss, as they next play on Saturday, Jan. 31, at Yeshiva University. Tip-off on Saturday is slated for 8:30 p.m.
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