Albany, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team was topped on the road Tuesday night, falling by a score of 98-83 at league rival Sage. Freshman Connor Bacci (Bayside, N.Y.) led the Mount with a career-high 13 points, while classmate T.J. Patsalos (Newburgh, N.Y.) posted his first career double-double.
 
After falling behind 5-2 in the early going on Tuesday, the Knights used an 8-0 run to pull in front 10-5 on an Andrew Holmes (Niskayuna, N.Y.) bucket with 14:42 left in the first half. The run pushed the Mount in front for good in the first half and it later used an 8-2 stretch to grab a 28-19 lead on a Stephen Steyer (Staten Island, N.Y.) conversion with 6:41 left in the opening period.
 
Mount Saint Mary would see the Gators climb back to within three points late in the half, but carried a 39-34 lead into the intermission after holding Sage to 38.9-percent shooting overall and a 30-percent effort from behind the arc.
 
The Knights shot just over 47-percent from the floor as a team in the opening 20 minutes and were led by nine points from sophomore Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) who went 4-for-5 from the floor.
 
Following a sluggish first half, Sage put 64 points on the board after halftime and shot a blistering 66.7-percent from the floor and went 24-for-30 from the free-throw line to pull away from the Knights. The Gators took the lead for the first time since it was 5-4 on a triple from Jorrdan McCray early in the second period and used a 14-3 stretch to move in front 59-49 with 12:43 left in regulation time.
 
The Mount would not be able to get closer than eight points the rest of the night and saw Sage grab its largest lead of the night, a 17 point edge, on a pair of Travis Gill free-throws with 6:13 left in the tilt that pushed the Gators in front 75-58.
 
Mount Saint Mary was held to 34.2-percent shooting in the second half and was held to a 3-for-14 effort from three-point range. Rob Mills led the Sage attack after halftime with 16 points, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.
 
Bacci finished the game with a pair of triples and went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line as he reached double-figures for the second time in the last three games. He added five rebounds on the night for the Mount.
 
Patsalos, who was named the league's Rookie of the Week on Monday, posted his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) chipped in with 11 points and four assists, while Wolff contributed 12 points.
 
Sage saw six players score in double-figures led by a game-high 24 from Mills, who finished 7-for-12 from the floor with four three-pointers. Marcus Patterson and Melvin Ford each recorded double-doubles for the Gators, with Patterson securing a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
Sage finished the game shooting better than 50-percent as a team and went 7-for-16 from bonus distance. The Knights rounded out the night shooting just over 40-percent, going 7-for-28 from three-point range.
 
Tuesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 5-9 overall on the season and to 3-7 in league play. Next up for the Knights is a home date with St. Joseph's-L.I. on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off at the Kaplan Center is set for 3:00 p.m.

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