Sanders Scores Career-High 24 Points to Lead Men's Basketball to First 2015-16 Win 88-67 Over Colgate
BOX SCORE
ALBANY, N.Y. – In its highest-scoring regulation non-conference win since 2009, University at Albany men's basketball (1-2) took down Colgate (1-2) 88-67 at SEFCU Arena on Thursday night for its first win of the season. Senior co-captain Ray Sanders scored a career-high 24 points to go with a career-best five steals against the Raiders.
“Coach Brown told me to let my defense open up my offensive game,” said Sanders. “We want to go into every game and try to play inside-out, execute our game plan. I wanted to stay aggressive up front, and just do my best to make my teammates better.”
With shooting woes plaguing the Great Danes the last two games, Sanders and Evan Singletary came out of the gate hot from the field. The senior pair combined to go 4-for-4 from behind the three-point arc in the first six minutes of the game.
Shooting better than 50% from the field in the early-going, the Danes found themselves up by just one, 15-14. Colgate went 6-for-6 from the field to kick off the first half, missing its first shot at the 13:55 mark.
UAlbany held a 20-14 advantage on the Raiders after Travis Charles got in on the scoring with a low-post lay-in. Sanders and Singletary teamed up for 17 points prior to the under-12 media timeout as Matt Langel's squad went scoreless for nearly four minutes.
The teams went back-and-forth mid-way through the half, trading three-point baskets to keep Colgate within striking distance. The Purple & Gold finally opened up a double-digit lead with a 12-0 run to end the first half. Five different players recorded points in the last 3:30 of the period to send the Danes to a 43-30 edge at the break.
Red-hot shooting continued for UAlbany to start the second half, as the Danes went 6-for-7 from the field in a five-minute span to open up a 22-point lead. Will Brown's squad collected its largest lead of the game with 6:28 to play, after freshman Joe Cremo scored five-straight points to make the score 74-48.
The Purple & Gold went 3-for-3 from three-point range to wrap up the game, going 4-for-7 from behind the arc in the final 20 minutes.
UAlbany recorded its highest point total in a win since an 89-72 victory at UMBC on Jan. 5, 2012. The last time the Danes tallied as many points in regulation in the non-conference slate came on Jan. 3, 2009 against Yale 89-68.
Despite a slow shooting start this season, the Danes went 29-for-55 (.527) from the field and 12-for-19 (.632) from beyond the arc against Colgate. Each of the 11 players that entered the game for UAlbany scored at least one point.
“I think we're a good shooting team,” said head coach Will Brown. “We're not going to shoot it like we did tonight every night, but I thought we were unselfish against a difficult team to guard. This was a good effort overall, and it was nice to have a good crowd tonight for the home opener.”
Ray Sanders finished with 24 points on 8-for-10 from the field and 6-for-6 from three-point land. He is the first Division I Great Dane to go perfect from the three-point line with six or more attempts. The senior also netted a career-high five steals to go with six rebounds and three assists.
Evan Singletary matched his career-best with 21 points. Peter Hooley pushed his double-digit scoring streak to 10 games on Thursday night, going for 11 points.
Next up, the Danes host Oneonta (1-1) at SEFCU Arena on Saturday at 7:00pm.
