Men's Basketball Sophomore Night.

-Middletown NY, 

Tuesday Feb 18th the #23 NJCAA DII (22-4, 7-0 Region XV) SUNY Orange Colts took on conference rival the (13-12, 4-2 Region XV) Hawks of Rockland Community College. After defeating the Hawks on Dec. 3rd the Colts looked to close out their two game series undefeated and finish 8-0 against conference opponents.

The SUNY Orange Colts played their last home game of the regular season as they honored its class of 2025 before the game. Sophomores Daniel Lans, Jabari Phillip, Kenee Ubaknma, Marco Evans, Marquis Gill and Mathew Shea.

To start out this game the Hawks scored the first points of the game which was shortly followed by a Mat Shea contested layup to even up the score. 

This game was nothing but exciting as there were multiple athletes who had a chance of reaching milestones in their career. Marco Evans needed just one rebound to achieve the 200 rebound mark and Marquis Gill had a chance at history and did not disappoint. Needing just two three pointers to become the All-Time 3-PT Leader in SUNY Orange Men's Basketball history, Marquis also needed 10 points to reach 900 career points. 

After the first 20 minutes of play the Colts found themselves trailing 32-31 facing all sorts of troubles maintaining possessions and preventing their opponent from getting open looks. 

Coming out of the halftime break the Hawks were the ones to score first and increased their lead after scoring five unanswered points until the Colts were able to score their first points of the second half also forcing coach Rickard to call a timeout and have his team re-group. 

After a much needed timeout break the Colts found themselves with their first lead of the second half after a Jabari Phillip and-1 finish to make the score 48-45 giving the Colts the spark they were looking for. 

After two missed free throws Sophomore Captain Marquis Gill drains his second three pointer of the game with 12 minutes left in the game solidifying his spot as the All-Time 3PT Leader in a season after surpassing Kevin Stein's record of 176 3pt shots made in a career.

After 40 minutes of back and fourth affair the Colts cap off their last regular season home game with a victory defeating the Hawks 88-77. 

The Colts will take on the Falcons of Dutchess County Community College on Thursday Feb 20th for their last regular season game. The Colts will be competing in the Region XV tournament at Westchester Community College starting on Sat. March 1st.