Ford's record setting day not enough as Gators fall 97-93 in OT to Panthers

January 3, 2015

Ford's record setting day not enough as Gators fall 97-93 in OT to Panthers

Russell Sage College

6-2, 2-1 Skyline

SUNY College at Old Westbury

1-9, 1-2 Skyline

Final

Russell Sage College 6-2, 2-1 Skyline

SUNY College at Old Westbury 1-9, 1-2 Skyline

Old Westbury, NY –The Sage College's men's basketball team travelled to SUNY-Old Westbury on Saturday afternoon for a Skyline Conference match-up. The host Panthers of SUNY-Old Westbury triumphed 97-93 in overtime behind a 33 point performance from junior Reynaldo Walters. Sage drops to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in the league, while the Panthers improve to 1-9 overall and 1-2 in the league.

Sage's junior Melvin Ford (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) hauled in a Sage single-game record 22 rebounds and had a season-best 17 points to finish as the Gators' co-high scorer. He surpassed the previous single-game record of most rebounds held by both Ryan Sager and Marcus Hunter with 18 rebounds.

Also adding 17 points for the Gators was junior Jorrdan McCray (Orlando, FL/Wekiva), while junior guard Andre Robinson (Fort Pierce, FL/Fort Pierce Westwood) tallied 16 points and senior tri-captain Kai Deans (Miami, FL/Monsignor Pace) netted 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Sophomore forward Marcus Patterson (Bronx, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) tied the game with a three-pointer and was fouled in the final seconds of regulation to convert a four-point play and send the game to overtime after an 86-86 tie with 14 seconds left to play.

In the overtime period, the action was tied twice before the Panthers took a 92-90 lead with 2:17 left to play as Walters hit a layup. Twice Sage pulled within one point, but were unable to break the lead as Mark Gjonlekaj made a pair of free throws giving OW a 96-93 lead with 20 seconds left to play and the Gators' attempts down the stretch were unsuccessful, including a three-pointer by Patterson to end the contest.

With his 11 points on Saturday, Deans now has 500 career points at Sage and stands No. 5 all-time in scoring for the Gator men's basketball program.

Sage returns to action on January 7 travelling to the College of Mt. St. Vincent for a 7 p.m. Westbury for a Skyline Conference contest.