Gators fall in season finale, 85-74 to FSC
Farmingdale, NY--- The Sage Colleges men's basketball team traveled to Farmingdale State College on Saturday in the regular-season finale, 85-74. FSC improves to 16-9 overall and 15-5 in the conference, while Sage finishes their season with a 13-12 overall record and a 10-10 record in the Skyline Conference.
For Sage, the 2010-2011 season produced a number of high-water marks for success. A winning season in just their second season of action, the team's first four-game win streak, most points scored by one player in a season (352), and most points scored by the team (1,911), as well.
FSC led 41-36 at the break as Keith Nandin had 11 of his 14 points in the first half of action. Sage got 10 first-half points from senior co-captain Lamont Garland (Albany, NY/Colonie) as he shot a blistering 4-5 from the floor and was 2-3 from the line. Garland finished with 12 points on the afternoon.
By game's end, FSC had four players finish in double-digits as Josh Smith tallied a team-best 19 points off the bench and John Dabney added 17 points.
The Gators got a game-high 23 points from junior forward Dalton Austin-Michaud (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane), which ties his season high of 23 points on two earlier occasions this season. Austin-Michaud finished with 11 rebounds to lead Sage as he racked up his fifth double-double on the year and finished with a team-best 17.2 ppg average on 206 points in 12 games played.
Sophomore forward Matt Farbotko (Rouses Point, NY/Northeastern Clinton) added 15 points, while senior forward Derick Faragon (Rotterdam Junction, NY/Schenectady) tallied 12 points with seven rebounds. For the season, Faragon surpassed the individual point total set last year by Farbotko with 351 as he netted 352 points for the season and averaged 14.1 ppg. Farbotko stands with 579 points and 255 rebounds.
Sophomore guard and co-captain Jeff Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) netted five points with three assists and two steals. Stopera led the team and is among the top assist leaders in the league as he finished with 148 assists, giving him a two-season total of 251 assists.
Sage must now wait for the completion of the 2010-2011 regular-season action for the completion of the 2011 Skyline Conference Tournament field, which will be released later on Saturday evening.
