Easton, Mass. – Sophomore guard Nate Champion (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) scored 21 points to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to a 68-59 win at Stonehill on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at Merkert Gymnasium.

Champion, who tallied 14 of his points in the first half, added six second-half rebounds and six assists. Sophomore forward Brian Zapisek (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) was the only other Dolphin to score in double figures with 11 points, while grabbing a team-best eight rebounds.

Andre Tongo led four Skyhawks in double digits by scoring 12 points, while pulling down seven rebounds. Raheem May-Thompson, Brian Hamor and Patrick Lee each scored 11 points, with Lee grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.

Stonehill, which entered the game tied for second in the conference standings, opened the game with the first four points and 12 of the first 16 points. Tongo bookended the span with a lay-up and a three-pointer, while Hamor also had a lay-up and a three-pointer and Lee hit a jumper.

After Mitch Amelio hit a three-pointer at the 10:19 mark for an 18-12 Stonehill advantage, the Dolphins scored seven straight points in a span of 2:10 to take the lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the game. Freshman forward Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable/Vermont Academy) started the run with a lay-up, sophomore center Jim Janson (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville) followed with a lay-up and Champion capped the spurt with a three-pointer with 7:50 remaining in the half.

Le Moyne's lead bounced between one and three over the ensuing three and one-half minutes. Champion had four points in the stretch for the Dolphins, while Lee had three for the Skyhawks.

Champion pushed Le Moyne's lead to six for the first time with 2:22 left in the stanza on a conventional three-point play, while Tongo followed with two free throws for Stonehill just over one minute later. After junior guard Gamal Mohamed (North Plainfield, N.J./Immaculata) sank two foul shots with 24 seconds left, Zapisek stole a pass on the right wing and raced in for a buzzer-beating lay-up to give the Dolphins a 33-25 advantage at the intermission.

The Dolphins opened the second half with the first six points on a lay-up by Champion, a dunk by Janson and a jumper in the paint by Mohamed for a 14-point advantage at the 17:44 mark.

The Skyhawks countered with seven straight to cut their deficit in half with 14:30 remaining. May-Thompson had a pair of free throws around a lay-up for the first four points and Amelio followed with a three-pointer.

Le Moyne pushed its lead back to 12 points on a three-pointer by senior guard James Cormier">James Cormier (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull/Proctor Academy (N.H.)) and a lay-up from Romich, but the Skyhawks answered with six consecutive points on lay-ups by Lee and May-Thompson and two foul shots by May-Thompson to make the score 44-38 with 12:43 to go.

After Cormier and Amelio traded three-pointers, Cormier hit his third three-pointer in a span of 3:38 to spark an 8-0 Le Moyne run. Mohamed followed with a three-pointer before Romich finished off a pass from Champion.

The two teams then traded runs, resulting in a 63-48 advantage for the Dolphins with 4:47 left to play. Hamor made a lay-up, Lee connected on two foul shots and May-Thompson converted a lay-up to get the Skyhawks within eight, but the Dolphins countered with a three-pointer from Zapisek, a lay-up by Champion and a conventional three-point play by Janson for their largest lead of the game.

Stonehill scored seven straight points to get within eight with 1:47 left, but could not get any closer. Tongo had a three-pointer and two free throws and Lee made a lay-up after stealing an in-bounds pass.

The Dolphins got five free throws in the final 1:47, including a trio from Champion, to seal the victory.

Le Moyne (9-6, 5-6 NE-10), which has won five straight games over the Skyhawks in Easton, travels to UMass Lowell on Tuesday for a 7:30 tip-off.