Syracuse, N.Y. – Senior guard Nate Gause (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie/Quinnipiac) scored 31 points to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to a 65-59 win over Seton Hill University on Wednesday afternoon in non-conference action at Ted Grant Court.

Gause tallied 21 of his game-high point total in the opening half, while stuffing his stat line with eight rebounds, a career-best six steals and a career-high four blocks. With his 31 points, one off his career high, Gause is the first Dolphin to register three games with at least 30 points in one season since Laurence Ekperigin turned the trick seven times during the 2009-10 season, while the two are the only ones to do it over the last 13 seasons. His six steals are tied for the second-most by a Dolphin over the last 13 seasons and are the most in four years. Junior guard Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) registered 13 points, including 10 in the second half, and dished out eight assists, one shy of his career high.

Noah Davis drained seven three-pointers, including five on five attempts in the first half, to lead the Griffins in the loss. He finished with 23 points, while grabbing four rebounds. David Windsor hit four second-half three-pointers to finish the game with 12 points, while adding five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

After the Dolphins got baskets from sophomore forward Stan Buczek (Port Jervis, N.Y./Burke Catholic) and Gause around a Davis three-pointer, the Griffins scored eight straight points in a span of 2:57 to take their largest lead of the game. Kameron Taylor started the spurt with a put-back lay-up and then Davis buried a pair of three-pointers.

The Dolphins, who were playing at home for the first time in 39 days and for just the third time this season, answered back with 11 of the next 13 points to regain the lead. Gause knocked down a three-pointer and then Le Moyne got a runner along the right baseline from freshman guard Tanner Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland/Bridgton Academy), who returned to action for the first time in four weeks following an upper-body injury. After Gause made one free throw and Buczek grabbed the rebound of the second attempt, Gause nailed another three-pointer to tie the score. He then gave the Dolphins the lead with a fast-break jumper off one of his steals.

The Griffins evened the score on a put-back lay-up by Spencer Casson before Davis and Gause alternated three-pointers on the next four possessions.

After Casson made a lay-up to give Seton Hill a 23-21 lead with 7:09 left in the opening half, the Dolphins rattled off 10 straight points for their largest lead of the contest. Hyland started the run with a three-pointer, Lovell followed with a fast-break lay-up, Gause had a put-back lay-up and then he finished off an alley-oop from Lovell for a 31-23 advantage with 3:28 left.

The teams traded baskets over the final 3:09 of the half as the Dolphins took a 35-28 lead into the intermission.
 
The Griffins nailed three-pointers on three of their first four possessions of the second half as the scored the first 11 points of the stanza to take a four-point edge. Windsor hit all three of the three-pointers around a lay-up by Tyler Bowling.

Following a 6-2 spurt by the Dolphins to tie the game for the fifth time, the Griffins responded with an 8-2 run to open up a 49-43 lead with 11:06 left. Windsor started the run with his fourth three-pointer of the opening 6:35 of the half, Davis followed with a jumper and then he buried his sixth three-pointer of the contest to beat the shot clock.

After the teams traded points over the next five minutes, resulting in a 53-49 Seton Hill lead, the Dolphins scored eight straight points to regain the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the half. Lovell trimmed the deficit to two with a lay-up and then 52 seconds later Gause gave the Dolphins the lead with a conventional three-point play. Gause extended the margin to four with a three-pointer with 4:23 left.

Seton Hill (2-8) took the lead back with a pair of three-pointers around two empty Le Moyne possessions. Zach Herman pulled the Griffins within one at the 4:02 mark and then Davis drilled his last three-pointer with 2:48 to play.

Gause evened the game at 59-apiece with a foul-line jumper off a feed from Lovell with 2:23 remaining. The basket kick-started an 8-0 run by the Dolphins to win the game.

Following three missed shots in the paint by Taylor in a span of 10 seconds, Lovell knocked down a pull-up jumper from just inside the three-point line with 37 seconds left to give the Dolphins the lead. 

Out of a Seton Hill timeout, Davis had a wide open three-pointer from the top of the key, but the shot caromed off the rim and was snatched by Gause. After being fouled, he converted both ends of a one-and-one to put the Dolphins up 63-59 with 23 seconds left. Freshman guard Russell Sangster (Rockville, Md./Bullis School) picked off a Davis pass with 14 seconds left and got the ball to Lovell, who was fouled. He also converted both ends of a one-and-one to end the game's scoring. Gause picked off the ensuing in-bounds pass and the Dolphins were able to run the clock out.

Le Moyne (9-3), which picked up its third win of the season against a team from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (Gannon, Slippery Rock, Seton Hill), returns to Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday against Adelphi University at 2:00 p.m.