ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's basketball team got back on the winning side of things with an 86-75, non-conference win over visiting SUNY Geneseo on Tuesday evening at the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena.
 
Junior Scotty Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) led the Saxons (4-1, 0-0 Empire 8) with 19 points. Senior Nick Schmidt (Olean, NY/Olean) posted 16 points and a game-high eight assists. Junior Sage Brown (Cortland, NY/Cortland) neared a double-double with 13 points and a game-tying high of nine rebounds. Sophomore Sam Dagon (Hornell, NY/Hornell) rounded out the double-digit scoring for Alfred University with 10 points.
 
"Our defensive energy and focus was where it needed to be from the start," Head Coach Russell Phillips said. "We were able to string together stops which fueled some good looks in transition for us. Multiple guys got hot and started to feed off of each other which allowed us to put some runs together."
 
The Saxons were down by seven points at one point in the first half after a layup from Sean Crowley with just over 12 minutes remaining before the half. Alfred University went on a 11-4 run that was started by a three-pointer by sophomore Derek Schmidt (Olean, NY/Olean) off an assist by first-year Jeremiah Zitz (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit). Brown and Stopera both hit threes in the run and the remaining two points came from a pair of good free throws by senior Tristin Hook (Red Bank, NJ/Middletown North). The run went until just about two minutes before Stopera gave the Saxons a 20-18 lead on a solo layup with just under nine minutes remaining.
 
Alfred continued to gain on the Knights and eventually posted a 10-point lead, 31-21 on a Stopera free throw. Geneseo chipped away at the lead until it was 35-32 in favor of Alfred University going into the half.
 
Alfred University never gave up the lead or allowed the score to be tied again in the second half with posting leads of 15 points on multiple occasions.
 
The Saxons held an advantage over Geneseo in points off of turnovers (18-10) while Geneseo had the second-chance points covered (18-10). The Knights' bench also outscored Alfred 33-22 on the evening as well as points in the paint (36-20). Defensively, SUNY Geneseo had 42 rebounds (28 defensive and 14 offensive) compared to Alfred University's 32 boards (22 defensive and 10 offensive). The Saxons led the game in assists (21-12), steals (7-5) and blocks (3-1). Senior Dalton Cousin (Sherrill, NY/Bernon-Verona-Sherrill) led AU in blocks with two while he posted eight points and seven rebounds. Stopera and Brown both had two steals each.
 
The Saxons will next take to the road to close out the 2017 portion of the schedule. They first head to Keuka College on Tuesday, December 5 for a 7PM start. Then they head to SUNY Canton on Saturday, December 9 before going to Cleveland, OH for the Case Western Reserve, Bill Sudeck Holiday Tournament on Friday, December 29 against the hosts and a follow-up game the following day.