ALBANY - Le Moyne College, the top shooting team in the Northeast-10 Conference, added leverage to that status by shooting an efficient 52.0 percent (26-for-50) from the floor to hand The College of Saint Rose a 77-68 setback at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium this evening. In the process, the Golden Knights (11-12/9-9 NE-10) had their season-long four-game win streak snapped and the Dolphins (14-10/10-9 NE-10) picked up their first victory in Albany since taking the first meeting between the two clubs back in 1991.
Le Moyne, which led by three, 36-33, at the break, never trailed in the second half thanks to a 13-for-22 effort from the floor and a 12-for-21 performance from the stripe. Saint Rose pulled even, 44-44, at the 16:50 mark behind a 7-0 spurt that was initiated by a layup from junior forward Malcolm Williams. Senior guard Josh Pelletier then scored in the paint and junior guard Jermaine Clark buried one of his five 3-pointers to cap the run.
The Dolphins quickly pushed the margin back to seven, 55-48, after junior guard Damani Corbin finished in the paint. The Golden Knights managed to cut their deficit to four on three different occasions throughout the next four minutes, the last time via a trey by Clark with 6:08 on the clock that made it 60-56 Le Moyne.
From that point on, junior forward Laurence Ekperigin went to work by connecting on two straight buckets and adding a pair of free throws that gave the Dolphins an eight point, 66-58, cushion with 2:31 left. Following a Saint Rose turnover, Ekperigin found freshman guard Christopher Johnson alone on the baseline and Johnson promptly knocked down a long ball to give Le Moyne a safe 11 point, 69-58, edge with just over two minutes in the game.
The Golden Knights never got closer than seven points the rest of the way and the Dolphins kept their distance by converting 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch to win their fifth straight.
Clark paced Saint Rose with 26 points to go with four assists, while burying a career-high six, 3-pointers in the contest. Junior guard Brian Ledbetter came off the bench to produce 13 points and five rebounds in 16 minutes of action, while freshman guard Shea Bromirski added nine points and tied his season-high with five assists.
Ekperigin finished with 30 points, 19 boards and seven blocks to power Le Moyne. He wound up going 10-for-13 from the field and was 10-of-12 from the line. Meanwhile, Johnson tossed in 16 points, sophomore forward Kevin Roth contributed 14 points and six caroms and Corbin chipped in with 11 points, five rebounds and five helpers.
The Golden Knights, who play three of their last four games on the road, travel to Bentley University Saturday for a 3:30 pm league game in Waltham, MA. The Dolphins are scheduled to host NE-10 foe Saint Anselm Saturday in a 3:00 pm tip-off in Syracuse.
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