Albany, N.Y. – Tyler Sayre made a free throw with 2.4 seconds left in overtime to give The College of Saint Rose a 98-97 win over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference play at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium.

The game marked just the second overtime contest in the 32-game series between the two programs. In the only other overtime game, Saint Rose prevailed, 96-95, in Syracuse during the 1994-95 season.

With the victory, the Golden Knights claim one-half point in the year-long "Upstate Challenge" between the two institutions. The other one-half point will be awarded to the winner of the February 15 meeting in Syracuse. Through 10 contests, the Golden Knights lead 5.5 to 3.5.

Senior guard Nate Champion (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) tallied a career-best 35 points in the losing effort, while dishing out eight assists and pulling down six rebounds. He recorded 17 of his points in the first half, 12 in the second half and six in overtime. His 35 points are the most by a Dolphin since All-American Laurence Ekperigin '10 registered 36 against Adelphi University on February 6, 2010. He joins Ekperigin (30 in a 77-68 Le Moyne win in Albany on 2/10/09) as the only Dolphins to score at least 30 points against the Golden Knights since Saint Rose joined the Northeast-10 Conference in 2000. Graduate student center Jim Janson (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville) registered 18 points, 14 of which came in the second half. His 12th point of the contest gave him 1,000 for his career, becoming the 39th Dolphin to reach the milestone. Sophomore forward Connor Mahoney (Hanover, Mass./BC High/Brooks School) posted 15 points and five rebounds, while junior forward Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable/Vermont Academy) tallied 13 points (11 in the first half), six rebounds and three assists. Sophomore guard Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) finished with 10 points as all five starters reached double-figures, while dishing out four assists. Freshman forward Stan Buczek">Stan Buczek (Port Jervis, N.Y./Burke Catholic) pulled down a team- and career-best nine rebounds, while adding six points and three assists.

Sayre recorded a game-best 38 points to lead the Golden Knights. After scoring 13 points in the first half, he scored 18 in the second half and another seven (all from the foul line) in the overtime period. His point total is the most by a Dolphin opponent in over 22 seasons. He is the third Saint Rose player to reach 30 against Dolphins in an NE-10 game as Phil Sellers tallied 34 on March 3, 2003 (a 94-88 Saint Rose win in Albany) and Jermaine Clark posted 31 on February 24, 2010 (an 87-83 Le Moyne win in Syracuse). Dominykas Milka registered his sixth double-double is six games this season with 16 points and a game-best 12 rebounds. The backcourt duo of Kareem Thomas and Dan Mundweiler posted 18 and 12 points, respectively, while each dished out two assists.

After Saint Rose scored the first four points of the game, the teams went back and forth over the ensuing 12 minutes, resulting in 10 lead changes and eight ties, the last of which came at 25-25 on a Champion jumper with 7:25 left in the half. Champion scored 12 and Romich had eight of Le Moyne's 25, while Mundweiler had seven, Thomas six and Milka, Sayre and Mical-Ryan Boyd each had four for the Golden Knights.

Mahoney followed Champion's jumper with back-to-back three-pointers to give the Dolphins the lead for the remainder of the first half.

After Sayre made a lay-up with 3:28 left to pull Saint Rose within 33-32, the Dolphins posted a 12-5 run to open up an eight-point advantage with 52 seconds left in the half. Champion had five of the points, Lovell had four and Romich had three. Mahoney knocked down a jump shot with two seconds left in the stanza to give the Dolphins a 47-39 lead at halftime.

The Golden Knights opened the second half with 13 of the first 17 points to regain the lead with 16:30 left. Milka bookended the spurt with jumpers, while Thomas had two baskets, Mundweiler nailed a three-pointer and Sayre made a jump shot.

The teams then traded runs the rest of regulation. Following a 6-2 Le Moyne spurt to take the lead, Saint Rose answered with seven straight points for a 61-57 advantage with 13:41 left. The Dolphins posted another 6-2 run on two three-pointers by Mahoney around a Sayre jumper to tie the score for the ninth time with 12:44 to play.

The Golden Knights followed with seven of the next nine points to open up their largest lead of the game, 70-65, with 10:40 remaining, but the countered with a 13-7 run over 3:52 to regain the lead.

After Sayre made a free throw with 4:56 left to tie the score at 80 apiece, Janson recorded back-to-back baskets in the paint to put the Dolphins in front 84-80 with 4:03 left. His lay-up with 4:38 to play gave him 1,000 career points.

Following a Saint Rose timeout, the Golden Knights rattled off seven straight points for an 87-84 edge with 1:54 left. Milka had the first three, Thomas followed with two free throws and then Mundweiler made a lay-up to beat the shot clock.

Out of a Le Moyne timeout, Champion buried a three-pointer from the right wing to knot the score at 87. Sayre made a jumper with 1:16 left to give the Golden Knights the lead, but Janson answered 23 seconds later with a dunk off a feed from Champion. However, he missed the ensuing free throw.

Saint Rose had a chance to regain the lead with 30 seconds remaining, but Janson swatted Milka's shot and Buczek grabbed the rebound. The Dolphins went to Janson for the win in the closing seconds, but his shot rolled off the rim. Champion corralled the offensive rebound and fired a pass to the top of the key to Mahoney, who was fouled with 0.5 seconds left. After Saint Rose called timeout, Mahoney's free throw on the front-end of a one-and-one was off the mark, sending the game into overtime.

The overtime period was more back and forth action as neither team led by more than two points. Thomas got the Golden Knights on the scoreboard in the session with two free throws, but Champion answered with a lay-up. Champion then gave the Dolphins the lead with a jumper, but Sayre countered by making two foul shots. After Champion made two free throws, Sayre made two more foul shots with 1:06 left to tie the score at 95. Following a Le Moyne missed jumper, Sayre drew another foul with 31.9 seconds left and connected on both free throws. On the other end of the floor, Janson drew a foul with 13.4 seconds to play and buried both foul shots around a Saint Rose timeout. Out of a Le Moyne timeout, Sayre was fouled for the fourth time in the overtime session on the right baseline. After missing his first free throw with 2.4 seconds left, he made the second to give the Golden Knights a 98-97 advantage. Following a Le Moyne timeout, Champion picked up a loose ball and midcourt, but his desperation shot was wide left.

Le Moyne (2-2, 1-1 NE-10), which had won the last two meetings in Albany, returns to action on Friday at Gannon University's Gary Miller Classic. The Dolphins take on the host Golden Knights at 7:30 p.m. The Dolphins will meet either Alderson-Broaddus or Wheeling Jesuit on Saturday.