SYRACUSE – The College of Saint Rose men’s basketball team has started a season 0-2 for the first time in its 18-year NCAA Division II era following tonight’s 67-57 setback at Northeast-10 Conference rival Le Moyne College. The Golden Knights, who dropped their season-opener 69-64 to visiting Philadelphia University on Saturday, were held to 28.6 percent (10-for-35) shooting, while the host Dolphins canned 50.0 percent (13-for-26) of their opportunities from the floor in the second half.
Le Moyne (1-0/1-1 NE-10) owned a 30-28 lead at the break, but took control out of the locker room by scoring 12 of the second period’s initial 16 points to boost its margin to a 10, 42-32, with 16:26 remaining. Junior guard Damani Corbin scored six of his 12 points during that span to lead the charge.
Saint Rose did make a run of its own to turn it into a one possession game, 50-47, after freshman forward
Brian Hanuschak finished a fastbreak that was initiated on a steal by freshman forward
Sheldon Griffin. However, the Dolphins came out of a timeout and responded with a 15-3 spurt that put them in the catbird seat with a 65-50 lead at the 4:06 mark. Le Moyne then worked the clock on the offensive end from that point on to seal the victory.
Junior forward
Malcolm Williams recorded career-highs of 16 points and nine rebounds; while junior guards
Jermaine Clark and
Brian Ledbetter added 14 and 11 points respectively to lead Saint Rose (0-2/0-1 NE-10).
Freshman guard James Cormier paced Le Moyne with 15 points, while sophomore forward Kevin Roth and junior forward Laurence Ekperigin both registered “double-doubles”. Roth finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Ekperigin wound up with 13 points, 11 boards and three blocks. Corbin handed out seven assists to go with his dozen points.
The Golden Knights are scheduled to play their NE-10 home opener on Saturday against Southern Connecticut State. Tip-off is set for 3:30 pm. Meanwhile, Le Moyne will entertain league rival New Haven at 3:00 pm Saturday.
Box Score