Manchester, N.H. – B.J. Cardarelli scored 21 points as Southern New Hampshire held off the Le Moyne College men's basketball team, 81-73, in Northeast-10 Conference action on Tuesday night at the SNHU Fieldhouse.

Cardarelli registered 13 of his game-high point total in the first half, while adding four rebounds. Seniors Greg DeSantis and Tory Stapleton came off the bench to score 16 points apiece, while Stapleton pulled down a game-best seven rebounds.

Sophomore forward Brian Zapisek (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) led four Dolphins in double figures with 16 points, 12 of which came in the opening half. Junior guard Gamal Mohamed (North Plainfield, N.J./Immaculata) and sophomores Nate Champion (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) and Jim Janson (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville) each finished with 10 points, while Champion led the team with six rebounds.

The opening five minutes and 16 seconds of the game featured five ties, the last of which was at 14-apiece. Cardarelli had Southern New Hampshire's first seven points before Elijah Bonsignore had two baskets and Josh Morgan-Green drilled a three-pointer, while Zapisek and Janson each had six points and Mohamed nailed a jumper.

The teams then traded points over the next 7:07, with neither team leading by more than three points, resulting in a 24-24 tie. Champion and Zapisek each had three-pointers in the stretch for the Dolphins, while Cardarelli had six points and DeSantis nailed a three-pointer for the Penmen.

After the teams traded 5-0 spurts to deliver a 29-29 tie, the Penmen pushed out to a 36-30 advantage before the Dolphins got consecutive three-pointers from Zapisek and senior guard Chris Johnson (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) in a span of 21 seconds to tie the game for the ninth and final time and force a Penmen timeout.

Out the timeout, Stapleton had lay-ups on back-to-back possessions and DeSantis followed with a three-pointer at the 1:03 mark for a 43-36 advantage, which the Penmen would take into the intermission.

The Penmen scored the first four points of the second half to extend their run to 11 straight points over the end of the first half and beginning of the second half. The Penmen pushed their lead to 52-38 before Janson made a lay-up, snapping a stretch of six minutes without a field goal for the Dolphins.

After the Dolphins pulled within 56-47 on a three-pointer by Johnson, the 271st of his career, which moved him into third place on the program's all-time three-point field goals made list, Southern New Hampshire scored nine of the game's next 11 points to take its largest lead of the contest with 10:42 remaining. DeSantis had the first six points on a pair of three-pointers, while Marcus Matthews followed with a three-pointer of his own from the left wing.

Following back-and-forth play over the next 4:20 resulted in a 70-56 advantage for the Penmen, the Dolphins started their rally. Le Moyne scored seven straight points to cut its deficit in half and followed a DeSantis foul-line jumper with four more points to get within five points with 2:43 remaining. Mohamed started the rally with a three-pointer and junior guard Derrek Tartt (Chicago, Ill./Oak Park Fenwick/UAlbany) followed with a lay-up and two free throws. After the basket from DeSantis, Zapisek and Tartt each made two foul shots.

The Dolphins got within five points on a pair of occasions, the last of which came with 51 seconds left on a put-back lay-up by freshman forward Ryan Romich">Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable), but could not get any closer as Stapleton had a conventional three-point play on SNHU's next possession. Each team made a pair of free throws in the final 36 seconds to close out the game's scoring.

Le Moyne (6-6, 2-6 NE-10), which has dropped back-to-back games to the Penmen, returns home to face Franklin Pierce on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.