Springfield, Mass. -  Graduate student center Jim Janson (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville) scored 15 points to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to a 69-56 win over American International College on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference play at Butova Gymnasium.

Janson, who posted just two points and two rebounds in seven minutes of action in the first half due to foul trouble, registered 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field in the second half, while pulling down six rebounds. Senior guard Nate Champion (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) tallied 12 points (eight in the first half), seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Naté Gause (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie/Quinnipiac) recorded 12 points and five rebounds off the bench.

Marcus Porter and Janek Schmidkunz led the Yellow Jackets with 15 points each. Schmidkunz tallied 12 of his points in the first half on four three-pointers, while Porter netted 10 of his points in the second half to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds and four assists. Jason Perrier added 10 points.

The Dolphins, who never trailed in the game, scored the contest's first eight points over a span of 1:33. Sophomore guard Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) opened the game with a shot clock-beating three-pointer and Champion followed with a three-pointer of his own. After stealing the ball, Lovell converted a pair of free throws for the 8-0 lead.

After Schmidkunz hit his first three-pointer of the half to pull the Yellow Jackets within 10-5 with 16:55 left, the Dolphins rattled off nine straight points. Junior forward Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable/Vermont Academy) started the run with a put-back lay-up, Gause followed with a pull-up jumper, Romich recorded a conventional three-point play and then had another put-back lay-up for a 19-5 lead with 12:38 left.

The Dolphins used a 5-0 spurt around the midpoint of the half to take their largest lead of the game. Freshman forward Stan Buczek (Port Jervis, N.Y./Burke Catholic) made a lay-up off a feed from Champion, who then had a steal and conventional three-point play with 8:53 to go for a 26-10 advantage. With the free throw, Champion became the 23rd Dolphin to score 1200 career points.

After Lovell gave the Dolphins a 31-15 lead with a lay-up with 3:49 left, the Yellow Jackets scored 12 straight points to get within four. Max Risch started the streak with a put-back lay-up and then Schmidkunz and Porter alternated three-pointers and lay-ups to close within 31-27 with 40 seconds left in the half.

Gause buried a three-pointer from the right wing with three seconds left to put the Dolphins up 34-27 at halftime.

Following two baskets by Janson around a fast-break lay-up by Spencer Braithwaite, the Yellow Jackets tallied seven of the next nine points to get within four, but that's as close as they would get the remainder of the game. Oscar Assie made two free throws, Perrier converted a fast-break lay-up and then Schmidkunz nailed his fifth (and final) three-pointer of the game with 15:49 left to make the score 40-36.

Sophomore forward Connor Mahoney">Connor Mahoney (Hanover, Mass./BC High/Brooks School) drilled a three-pointer and then made a lay-up off an in-bounds pass to push Le Moyne's lead back to five.

After the teams traded baskets over the next 6:22, resulting in a 52-47 Le Moyne lead with 7:30 left, the Dolphins tallied 12 of the next 14 points to put the game away. Janson scored the first five, including his 1300th career point (16th Dolphin to do so), Champion made two free throws, Janson converted another lay-up and then Buczek registered a conventional three-point play with 3:31 remaining.

The teams alternated points over the last 2:47 to deliver the final score.

Le Moyne (15-10, 12-7 NE-10), which closes out the regular season on Tuesday at Pace University at 7:30 p.m., will be either the Southwest Division's second or third seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference Championships. Sitting in third place right now, the Dolphins can claim the second seed (and a home contest against Saint Michael's College in the quarterfinals on Sunday, March 2) with a win at Pace and a loss by New Haven at Adelphi on Tuesday. A New Haven win or a Le Moyne loss gives the Dolphins the third seed and a road contest at Franklin Pierce University in the quarterfinals.