Erie, Pa. – For the second straight night, junior forward Connor Mahoney (Hanover, Mass./BC High/Brooks School) scored the winning basket in the final minute as the Le Moyne College men's basketball defeated Slippery Rock University, 60-55, on Saturday evening on the final night of the 31st Annual Gary Miller Classic at Gannon University's Hammermill Center.

The win marked the 200th in the career of head coach Steve Evans, making him just the second coach (Thomas J. Niland) in the program's history to reach that plateau. Evans earned his 100th career victory with an 86-84 overtime win on February 16, 2008 at Saint Anselm College in his 220th career game. Saturday marked his 399th game in charge of the Dolphins, giving him his second 100 victories in just 179 games.

Junior guard Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon), who was named to the All-Tournament Team, led the Dolphins in scoring for the second time in three games with 22 points, 12 of which he scored after halftime, while adding four assists. Senior guard Nate Gause (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie/Quinnipiac) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Classic after registering 10 of his 19 points in the first half, while pulling down six rebounds, posting three steals and blocking two shots. Mahoney scored in double digits for the fourth time this season with 10 points, including seven in the second half, while grabbing a team-best seven rebounds.

Kelvin Goodwin led Slippery Rock offensively with 19 points, 12 of which he scored in the second half on four three-pointers. Antonio Butler, who joined Lovell and Gause on the All-Tournament Team, registered all 14 of his points in the second half, while adding seven rebounds (five offensive), three assists and two steals.

After Goodwin hit a three-pointer with 16:23 left in the first half to give The Rock a 7-6 lead, the Dolphins scored 19 of the game's next 22 points, including 11 straight at one point, for a game-best 15-point lead. Lovell sparked the run with a jumper and added four more points in the stretch, while Gause had seven of the 19 points, including a fast-break dunk to cap the streak and give the Dolphins a 25-10 advantage with 5:34 remaining.

The Rock scored four points around a free throw by Gause to trim their deficit to 12, but sophomore forward Stan Buczek (Port Jervis, N.Y./Burke Catholic) closed out the scoring in the half with a lay-up to put the Dolphins up, 28-14, at the break.

Slippery Rock opened the second half with the first six points and 12 of the first 14 to get within four just 3:50 into the second stanza. Goodwin nailed consecutive three-pointers to start the scoring and then Cornelius Brown made a jumper and Butler followed with a pair of lay-ups.
 
The Dolphins responded with eight straight points in a span of 1:38 to push their lead back to 12 with 14:09 remaining. Gause and Mahoney made three-pointers and then Lovell knocked down a fast-break jumper to force a Slippery Rock timeout.

The Rock answered with a 26-10 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. Frank Holloway started the run with two free throws and Butler followed with a pair of lay-ups and two free throws. After a pair of baskets by Lovell and two foul shots by Gause, Goodwin nailed a three-pointer, Jamal Gatali hit two in a row and then Malcolm Richardson knotted the score at 46 with a three-pointer with 8:07 to play. Following a jumper by Gause to put the Dolphins back in front, Butler made two lay-ups around a jumper by Brown to give The Rock a 52-48 advantage with 6:03 remaining.

Gause made a jumper in the paint and Lovell followed with one of his own to even the score at 52 with 5:09 remaining.

Goodwin put Slippery Rock back in front with a three-pointer with 4:41 left in regulation, but those were The Rock's final points of the game.

After the Dolphins committed a pair of turnovers, Buczek registered a steal on one end and then finished off a feed from Gause on the other end seven seconds later to pull the Dolphins within a point with 2:55 to go. After Le Moyne caused a Slippery Rock turnover with 1:24 left, Mahoney hit a shot in the paint with 59 seconds remaining to give the Dolphins a 56-55 lead. He then drew a foul with 15 ticks left and nailed both free throws for a three-point edge. Lovell then stole the ball in the closing seconds and went coast-to-coast for a lay-up to beat the final buzzer to deliver the final score.

Le Moyne (6-1), which has won six of its first seven games for the first time since the 2002-03 season (Evans' third campaign), improves to 4-1 on the season in in-region, non-conference play. The Dolphins return to Northeast-10 Conference action on Wednesday at American International College at 7:30 p.m.