ALBANY, N.Y. – The College of Saint Rose outscored Le Moyne 8-0 over the final 1:46 on the way to tonight's 88-84 Northeast-10 Conference victory in its 2021-22 home opener at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium.
It the process, the Golden Knights (4-0/2-0 NE10) improved to 4-0 for the first time since the outset of the 2016-17 campaign.
"I was really proud of this group tonight. Le Moyne plays so hard and presents so many challenges for us defensively it was good to be able to get some stops late in the game to secure the win. Our freshmen
Shane O'Dell and
Tray Alexander were phenomenal tonight and we look forward to getting back in the gym for Saturday's game at Daemen," said head coach
Mike Perno.
O'Dell and Alexander both had career nights. The former finished with career-bests of 28 points and 10 rebounds, while Alexander tossed in a career-high 22 points, 11 in each half, and handed out five assists to lead Saint Rose, which is receiving votes in the NABC National Coaches Poll that was released earlier today.
The balanced attack also featured sophomore forward
Cartier Bowman who contributed 11 points and four assists in 22 minutes off the bench. Fellow sophomore forward
Josh McGettigan added 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor.
For Le Moyne (2-2/1-1 NE10), freshman guard Christian Davis finished with 20 points and nine boards while senior guard Nino Hernandez scored 16 of his 18 points after halftime.
It was a back-and-forth contest all night with 10 lead changes and nine deadlocks. Saint Rose eventually found itself down 84-80 when Alexander knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a one-point ballgame. The Dolphins came up empty at the other end and fifth year forward
Kevin Lynch tipped back his own missed layup that put the Golden Knights ahead to stay, 85-84.
Saint Rose then came up with another stop and Alexander buried a pair from the free throw line to make it an 87-84 ballgame with 15 seconds showing on the clock. Le Moyne subsequently turned the ball over and was forced to foul Alexander, who went 1-for-2 at the line to seal the victory.
Up next, both squads have road non-league dates this weekend. The Golden Knights travel out to the Buffalo area Saturday to visit Daemen for a 1:00 pm tip, while the Dolphins head to Philadelphia on Sunday for a 2:00 pm date at University of the Sciences.
Notes: The Golden Knights are 4-0 for the first time since 2016-17 when they opened the year 9-0…They are ranked #10 in this week's D2SIDA East Region Media Poll in addition to receiving votes in the NABC Coaches National Poll…Saint Rose leads the NE10 with a 53.5 field goal percentage (144-for-269) and a 95.8 scoring average…The latter puts them among the country's top-five squads in scoring offense…The Golden Knights have had at least four players in twin-figures scoring in each of their four games to date…O'Dell stands second among the NE10 leaders with 22.3 points per game, while Alexander is tied for fourth behind a 5.5 assists average.
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