NEWBURGH, N.Y. – Trailing by as many as twelve during a shaky first half, Mount Saint Mary College rallied to play a strong second half and defeat Sage, 68-57, in a Skyline Conference game in Newburgh on Thursday evening. The Knights earned a much-needed win to move to 2-3 overall (1-1 Skyline), while the Gators dropped to 2-4 (0-2 Skyline).
Already leading by five in the first half, the Gators ripped off a 7-0 run to seize a 24-12 advantage. From there, however, the Knights would score 13 of the next 16 points to trim the deficit to two (27-25) with a little more than four minutes remaining in the first half.
Freshman Donte Howell (Baldwin, N.Y.) sparked the Knights down the stretch with a spectacular scooping layup amidst several defenders to tie the game at 33. On the ensuing possession, Howell drained a three-pointer to give the Knights their first lead of the contest. Sage scored at the first half buzzer to make the half time score, 36-35.
In the second half, back-to-back triples from freshman Joe Stabach (Staten Island, N.Y.) and senior Chris Kingly (Washingtonville, N.Y.) staked the Knights to a six-point advantage with 11:20 to play in the contest. Sage sophomore Marcus Hunter (Ridge, N.Y.) answered with a fast-break bucket to make the score, 52-48, but that would be as close as the Gators would get.
The hard-nosed play of Mount junior Kevin Milella (Floral Park, N.Y.) resulted in a 6-0 run for the Knights and they pushed the lead to double digits. Sage would cut it back to as few as seven on a jumper from senior Derick Faragon (Rotterdam Junction, N.Y.), but the Knights stretched it back out to 15 during the final minute.
Milella would lead the Mount with 15 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds. Howell and Stabach each finished with nine points, while junior Carlos Valdez (Carolina, Puerto Rico) added five points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Sage's Faragon and sophomore Ryan Sager (Stuyvesant, N.Y.) each tallied 15 points for the Gators. Junior Pat Lanoue (Troy, N.Y.) added 13 points.
The Knights continue Skyline play on Saturday. They'll play host to Old Westbury at 3:30 p.m.