Peter Mangels Photo Gallery

ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's basketball team won its third game in a row to open up the 2017-18 season behind a strong second half performance over Rochester Institute of Technology on Tuesday evening in the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena.
 
The Saxons (3-0, 0-0 Empire 8) defeated the visiting Tigers, 76-65, outscoring them, 47-33 in the second half. Junior captain Sage Brown (Cortland, NY/Cortland) led the Saxons with his second double-double of the year. He scored a game-high 18 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. RIT's Anthony Lewis also scored 18 points on the evening to lead his team.
 
"It was a great team win tonight," said Head Coach Russell Phillips. "We did a great job in the second half of taking care of the glass. They had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half and we knew we needed to finish possessions if we wanted to win. Our big men really set the tone getting to the offensive glass and those extra possessions turned out to be crucial."
 
Brown was followed closely by fellow captain, Nick Schmidt (Olean, NY/Olean) and his 17 points. Senior Schmidt was 3-for-9 from three-point land and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Junior Dom LeMorta (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) was the final Saxon in double-digit scoring with 10 points.
 
Brown, Schmidt and junior Scotty Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) all tied for the lead for the Saxons in assists with four each while Brown stole the ball five times. Both stats were game-leading as well. Senior Dalton Cousin (Sherrill, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) was close to a double-double with nine rebounds and eight points.
 
The first half was a standard, back-and-forth matchup with neither team gaining much of a lead. The Saxons, however, managed the largest lead during the first 20 minutes as Stopera hit a three-pointer just under 13 minutes remaining to give Alfred University a 15-10 lead. RIT responded with a 9-0 run to go up by four points with just under nine minutes remaining off of a Lewis three.
 
Alfred went atop again by only one point, 29-28 with around a minute and a half left in the first half before a Tiger tip-in and two free throws led to the 32-29 Rochester lead going into the break.
 
The second half started out with large scores from Alfred as they capitalized on two three-pointers by the duo from Scotia, LeMorta and Stopera along with a Brown layup, tying the game at 37 points.
 
Schmidt hit two of his three-pointers in the following four minutes of play as the Saxons put together an 11-5 run, giving Alfred the 48-42 lead with just over 13 minutes left in regulation. A pair of successful free-throws from Schmidt resulted in the game's first double-digit lead as the Saxons were on top, 72-61 with 1:01 remaining.
 
RIT's Robert Aguilera put in a layup just after to bring the deficit within 10 points before Alfred would close out the contest with four, unanswered free throws.
 
The Saxons will next head to Hamburg, NY to face Hilbert College in non-conference action on Saturday, November 25 at 2PM.