New Haven, Conn. - Michael Mallory scored 27 points to lead 16th-ranked Southern Connecticut State University to a 97-75 win over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Moore Field House.

For the third straight game, junior guard Naté Gause (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie/Quinnipiac) led four Dolphins in double figures with 18 points, while pulling down a game-high and career high-tying nine rebounds. He also had two assists, two blocks and a pair of steals. Graduate student center Jim Janson (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville), senior guard Nate Champion (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) and junior forward Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable/Vermont Academy) each registered 12 points in the game. Janson added six rebounds, while Champion dished out five assists.

Mallory tallied 20 of his season-high point total in 13 minutes off the bench in the opening half, while adding four rebounds and two assists. Luke Houston finished with 20 points, 12 of which he scored in the first half, and five rebounds. Mallory and Houston each connected on five three-pointers as Southern Connecticut drained 16 in 30 attempts. Tylon Smith registered 15 points and Greg Langston recorded 12 points and six assists, while they each pulled down six rebounds. Deshawn Murphy was the fifth Owl in double-digits with 11 points.

Southern Connecticut State, which edged the Dolphins, 70-69, in Syracuse on December 19, opened the game with 13 of the first 17 points. Murphy and Houston made three-pointers, Houston followed with a fast-break lay-up, Mallory made a fast-break lay-up and then Smith recorded a conventional three-point play with 15:45 left.

Following jumpers by Champion and Gause around an Austin Carter jumper, Mallory drilled consecutive three-pointers to give the Owls their first double-digit lead.

After Gause hit back-to-back three-pointer to cap an 8-3 run by Le Moyne to pull the Dolphins within 24-16 with 10:13 left in the half, the Owls scored 20 of the next 21 points over 6:10 and 28 of the half's last 33 points. Houston scored seven of the 20 points, Mallory added six, Murphy knocked down a three-pointer and Smith and Langston each hit jumpers.
Following baskets by Gause and Janson around a Smith lay-up, Mallory gave the Owls a 52-21 lead at halftime by draining consecutive three-point attempts in the final 1:22 of the stanza.

Romich opened the scoring in the second half with a lay-up, but Smith followed with a jumper in the paint and Houston nailed a three-pointer from the right wing in transition to give the Owls their largest lead of the game (57-23) with 18:03 left.

The teams then went back-and-forth over the next 15 minutes with Southern Connecticut's lead bouncing between 26 and 34 points and settling at 30 with 2:47 left.

The Dolphins, whose previous five conference losses were by a combined 23 points, scored the next 10 points over the ensuing two minutes before Jose Cruz dunked the ball with 17 seconds left to deliver the final score. For the Dolphins, freshman forward Stan Buczek (Port Jervis, N.Y./Burke Catholic), Romich, Gause, sophomore guard Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) and freshman guard Ryan Roberts">Ryan Roberts (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro) each scored two points in the span.

Le Moyne (13-9, 10-6 NE-10), which has dropped four straight games at Southern Connecticut State, returns home to face the University of New Haven on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.