Pleasantville, N.Y. – Senior guard Nate Gause (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie/Quinnipiac) scored 25 points to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to a 68-51 win over Pace University on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Goldstein Fitness Center.

Le Moyne (8-1, 4-0 NE-10), which is 8-1 for the first time since the 1965-66 season and has won its first four conference games for the first time since the 1987-88 season, is back on the hardwood next Sunday at Bentley University at 3:00 p.m. The 8-1 record is currently the best mark in the 40-team East Region, while the 4-0 NE-10 mark leads the conference's Southwest Division.

Gause, the leading scorer in the Northeast-10 and the fifth leading scorer in the East Region, tallied 13 of his points in the first half. He also pulled down a team-best eight rebounds, blocked two shots and had two steals. Junior guard Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) registered 14 points, including nine in the second half, four assists, three rebounds and a pair of steals.

Kyle Pearson, in his first year with the Setters after playing two years at Fairleigh Dickinson University, registered a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Shelton Mickell was the only other Setter in double digits with 13 points, including eight after halftime.

The Dolphins opened the game with the first nine points over 2:42. Sophomore forward Stan Buczek (Port Jervis, N.Y./Burke Catholic) started the scoring with a three-pointer from the left wing, Gause followed with a fast-break dunk off an alley-oop from Lovell to force a Pace timeout just 82 seconds into the game. Junior forward Connor Mahoney (Hanover, Mass./BC High/Brooks School) gave the Dolphins an 8-0 lead with a three-pointer and then Lovell made a foul shot.

Pace countered with eight straight points and 12 of the next 15 to knot the score with 11:01 left in the first half. Khalil Brown, a one-year transfer from Monmouth University (which Le Moyne beat in an exhibition game last season), got the Setters on the scoreboard with a jumper, Pearson followed with two free throws and then Victor Jusino made two shots 1:21 apart. After a three-pointer by freshman guard Russell Sangster (Rockville, Md./Bullis School), Mickell and Pearson made lay-ups to tie the score.

After Bryan Rivers evened the game at 14-apiece with 8:11 left, the Dolphins scored eight consecutive points and 15 of the next 20 for their first double-digit lead of the game. In the 8-0 run, Mahoney nailed a three-pointer, Lovell made a lay-up and Gause followed with a three-pointer to force a Pace timeout with 6:36 to go. Following four points from Pearson and free throw by Brown around a Gause three-pointer and a lay-up by senior forward Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable/Vermont Academy), Buczek hit a jumper in the paint for a 29-19 advantage with 2:34 left in the stanza.

Pearson and Gause traded dunks before Mickell and Gause traded three-pointers to close out the first half with the Dolphins in front, 34-24.

Pace got within 36-29 with 15:09 left in the second half, but the Dolphins rattled off 24 of the next 33 points over nine and one-half minutes to blow the game open. Gause started the run with seven points in 79 seconds as part of a 12-point performance in the 24-9 jaunt. Lovell tallied seven points in the streak, Mahoney nailed a three-pointer and Sangster made two free throws.

The teams traded baskets over the final 5:13 to deliver the final score.