SYRACUSE – The College of Saint Rose men’s basketball team had its season-long six-game win streak come to a halt in an 87-83 loss at Le Moyne College this evening in what amounted to the regular-season finale for both squads. The Golden Knights (16-11/13-9 NE-10) tied their season-high with 11, 3-pointers, but the Dolphins (18-9/14-8 NE-10) outscored Saint Rose 22-12 from the foul line to earn a first round bye as the fourth seed in the upcoming league tournament.
Saint Rose, a sixth seed, will now host 11th seed Southern New Hampshire University (14-13/9-13 NE-10) in a Northeast-10 Conference Tournament opening round game at 1:00 pm Saturday. The Golden Knights suffered a 75-70 loss against the Penmen in Albany back on January 12 in the lone meeting between the two clubs this season.
With Le Moyne clinging to a 77-75 lead following a 3-pointer by Saint Rose senior guard
Jermaine Clark with 2:22 on the clock, senior guard Damani Corbin provided the final dagger for the Dolphins. Corbin converted a driving layup as he was fouled and then grabbed his own rebound off a missed foul shot that led to a pair of free throws by senior forward Laurence Ekperigin that put Le Moyne in front 81-75 with 47 seconds remaining.
Freshman guard
Andre Pope went straight to the rim at the other end to cut the Golden Knights’ deficit to four, but the Dolphins drained 4-of-6 attempts from the charity stripe over the final 32 seconds and tacked on a bucket as time expired. Clark’s school record tying ninth trey cut the Golden Knights deficit to 85-83 with two seconds left, but senior forward Kevin Hassett broke free and dunked home the inbounds pass for the final margin.
Both clubs initially torched the nylon in the opening period as Saint Rose took a 46-45 lead at the break. There were six ties and six lead changes throughout the opening 20 minutes and neither side led by more than seven points. The Golden Knights wound up shooting 59.3 percent (16-for-27) from the floor, while the Dolphins buried 47.4 percent (18-for-38) of their opportunities in the first period.
Clark tied his career-high with 31 points after going 9-for-14 from the arc to again tie a single-game school record for 3-pointers. Pope finished with 11 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while senior forward
Malcolm Williams added 11 points in 15 minutes of reserve action.
Ekperigin and Corbin tossed in 23 points apiece to lead the scoring parade for Le Moyne. Ekperigin also hauled in 12 rebounds and junior forward Kevin Roth also had a “double-double” behind 15 points and 10 boards.
Box Score