March 3, 2009
MBB: DOLPHINS ADVANCE TO NE-10 SEMIFINALS WITH 80-66 WIN AT
STONEHILL
North Easton, Mass - Classmates Laurence Ekperigin
(Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) and Damani
Corbin (Brooklyn, N.Y./Frederick Douglass) each recorded
double-doubles to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team
to an 80-66 win against Stonehill in the quarterfinals of the
Northeast-10 Conference tournament at Merkert Gymnasium on Tuesday
evening. With Le Moyne's victory and a win by Southern New
Hampshire University at UMass Lowell, the Dolphins will host the
Penman on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at Ted Grant Court.
Ekperigin, the conference's player of the year, scored a game-high
19 points and pulled down a game-best 17 rebounds to post his 20th
double-double of the season. Corbin, a 6'1" junior guard,
registered his second career double-double on 16 points and a
career high-tying 10 assists. Senior swingman Phil Barnes
(Georgetown, Cayman Islands/Clinton C.C.) recorded 15
points and nine rebounds in the victory. Mike Kernan led the
Skyhawks with 15 points, while Matt Hall scored 13 and A.J.
Rudowitz and Nick Smith registered 12 points apiece.
The Dolphins jumped out of halftime on a 12-4 run to push out to a
52-36 lead with just over 15 minutes remaining in the contest.
Barnes opened the stanza with a three-pointer and added a
conventional three-point play around two layups by Corbin. Le Moyne
pushed out to a game-high 18-point advantage at the 9:15 mark on a
jumper by Barnes. The Dolphins and Skyhawks traded baskets over the
next five minutes as Le Moyne remained ahead by 18.
The Skyhawks responded with a pressure defense, forcing eight
turnovers in the final four minutes to cut into their deficit. Hall
tallied five points and Rudowitz and Kernan each made layups as the
Skyhawks ran off nine consecutive points to pull within 71-62 with
2:50 remaining. The Dolphins went 9-of-10 at the foul line in the
2:26 to close out the contest.
Following a 5-5 tie with just over 16 minutes remaining in the
first half, Le Moyne ran off 10 straight points to take a lead they
would not relinquish. Corbin hit a pair of layups around
three-pointers by freshman guard Chris Johnson
(Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) and Barnes. The Dolphins
extended their lead to a half-best 15 (27-12) at the 7:28 mark on a
three-pointer by junior Kevin Hassett (Phoenix,
Ariz./Desert Mountain/Iona College).
Stonehill, the third seed in the conference tournament, responded
with a 20-10 run to narrow its deficit to just five points with
1:17 remaining in the stanza. Randall Stallworth and Smith each hit
a pair of three-pointers in the streak for the Skyhawks. Ekperigin
closed out the half's scoring with a conventional three-point play
with 54 seconds remaining.
Le Moyne (19-10), which has won 10 consecutive games, the second
longest winning streak in the East Region, posted a 45-20
rebounding advantage. The sixth-seeded Dolphins defeated the
seventh-seeded Penman 70-53 at Ted Grant Court on January 3rd.
-agate-
Le Moyne 80,
Stonehill 66
Le Moyne (19-10)
40
40
-
80
Stonehill
(21-7)
32
34
- 66
