Syracuse, N.Y. – James Cambronne recorded a double-double to lead Saint Michael's College to a 62-57 win over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team in Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Court.
Junior guard
Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) led the Dolphins with 24 points, which ties for the second-most points he's scored in a game. He also pulled down a career-best eight rebounds and dished out three of Le Moyne's four assists. Classmate
Connor Mahoney (Hanover, Mass./BC High/Brooks School) was the only other Dolphin in double digits with 17 points, while adding four rebounds. Senior forward
Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable/Vermont Academy) recorded a career-high 14 rebounds, including 11 in the first half and seven on the offensive end.
Cambronne tallied 14 points, including 10 in the second half, and grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds. Matt Bonds almost posted a double-double in 23 minutes off the bench by scoring 15 points and pulling down nine rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Corey Crawford II added 12 points, including 11 in the second half, and six rebounds.
After the teams split the game's first 28 points over the opening 11 minutes, the Dolphins used an 11-2 run over 6:27 to take their largest lead of the game. Freshman guard
Tanner Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland/Bridgton Academy) started the burst with a three-pointer and classmate
Russell Sangster (Rockville, Md./Bullis School) followed with a put-back lay-up 3:21 later to put the Dolphins up 19-16. Following a Bonds tip-in, Romich made a free throw, Lovell recorded a conventional three-point play and then Mahoney knocked down a jumper for a 25-18 lead with 1:11 left in the half.
Crawford made a free throw with 48 seconds left and Bonds recorded a fast-break lay-up to get the Purple Knights within 25-21 at halftime.
After Mahoney made a jumper to start the scoring in the second half, the Purple Knights tallied a pair of 5-0 runs around a 4-0 Le Moyne spurt to knot the game at 31-apiece with 16:09 left. Crawford hit a three-pointer and Cambronne made a jumper in the first 5-0 run, while Dom Ditlefsen buried a three-pointer and Mike Holton Jr. converted a fast-break lay-up to tie the game.
Following ties at 33, 35 and 37 over the next four minutes, the Purple Knights got a jumper from Cambronne and two free throws from Bonds to take a 41-37 lead with 11:05 left.
The Dolphins answered with seven of the next nine points to regain the lead. Mahoney made a lay-up and then buried a three-pointer before Lovell had a fast-break lay-up for the lead.
After each team scored two points on its next possession, Bonds registered back-to-back lay-ups in a span of 35 seconds to give Saint Michael's a 49-46 edge with 7:49 remaining.
Le Moyne countered with four points to take the lead for the last time. Lovell knocked down a jumper out of a timeout and then Mahoney converted two free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Following a conventional three-point play by Bonds with 6:03, Lovell made a jumper with 3:25 left to tie the game for the 12th and final time.
Out of the final media timeout, Cambronne made a lay-up with 2:58 remaining to kick-start a 6-0 run. Ditlefsen followed with a fast-break lay-up off a steal by Crawford, who followed with two free throws 1:13 later for a 58-52 lead.
Lovell made a free throw and a lay-up around a missed three-pointer by Holton Jr. to get the Dolphins within 58-55 with 18 seconds left. Crawford then made four free throws in the final 14 seconds around another Lovell lay-up to deliver the final score.
Le Moyne (11-4, 5-3 NE-10), which won its first five home games for the first time since the 1997-98 team went 16-0 at home, closes out its five-game homestand on Tuesday against Assumption College at 4:00 p.m.