Syracuse, N.Y. – JT Strickland broke a tie with 1:28 left as Merrimack College thwarted a rally by the Le Moyne College men's basketball team en route to a 77-72 win on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at Hammel Court.

Senior guard Naté Gause (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie/Quinnipiac) led the Dolphins in scoring in the loss with 21 points, 13 of which he scored in the second half, while adding eight rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Qwadere Lovell (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) also tallied 13 points in the second half as part of a 20-point performance, while dishing out five assists and posting two steals. Classmate Connor Mahoney (Hanover, Mass./BC High/Brooks School) was the third Dolphin in twin figures with 12 points, while pulling down six rebounds.

Gelvis Solano, the only player in the Northeast-10 averaging more points than Gause (22.9-21.8), recorded 22 points in the victory just four days after scoring an East Region-best 44 points in a win at Saint Rose. He added four assists, two steals and two rebounds. Troy Hammel registered 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Travonne Berry-Rogers came off the bench to score 11 points, including eight after halftime.

After the Dolphins scored seven straight points to turn a four-point deficit with 4:00 left into a three-point lead with 2:01 to play, the Warriors scored six straight points to regain the lead for good. In Le Moyne's 7-0 streak, Lovell recorded a conventional three-point play at the 3:52 mark, senior forward Ryan Romich (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable/Vermont Academy) followed with a lay-up for the lead with 2:32 left and then Lovell gave the Dolphins a 70-67 lead with a lay-up with 2:01 remaining.

Just 12 seconds later though, Solano buried a three-pointer from the left corner to knot the game at 70-apiece. Out of a timeout, the Dolphins missed a three-pointer from the right corner and then Strickland drew a foul six seconds later along the sideline. After making the first free throw, Strickland missed the second, but was able to snare the rebound and laid it in for a three-point edge with 1:25 left.

After Lovell hit a jumper with 50 seconds left, the Warriors turned the ball over with 37 seconds to go. Gause had a three-point attempt from the left wing, but he air-balled the shot and it went out of bounds with 25 ticks left. After having to burn two timeouts while trying to get the ball in play, the Warriors threw the ball away and freshman guard Russell Sangster (Rockville, Md./Bullis School) knocked it to Lovell on the left side of the paint. Lovell fed Gause at the right block, but his lay-up rolled off the rim to Hammel with 13 seconds remaining. Hammel, the best free throw shooter in the conference, sank both foul shots to put the Warriors up 75-72.

After Lovell missed a lay-up with eight seconds left, Gause ended up with the ball and the top of the key, but his three-point attempt to tie the score was off the mark and corralled by Kyle Howes, who drew a foul and then converted both foul shots for the final points of the game.

Following back-and-forth action over the opening six minutes of the contest, resulting in a 15-all tie, the Warriors scored eight straight points and 11 of the next 13 to open up a 26-17 lead with 9:11 left in the first half. Berry-Rogers started the run with a conventional three-point play, James Kennedy followed with a lay-up, Howes buried a three and then Hammel nailed a trifecta.

The Dolphins answered back with nine consecutive points to knot the score at 26. Mahoney ignited the spurt with a jumper, Lovell made a lay-up, Romich made a lay-up and then freshman guard Tanner Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland/Bridgton Academy) drained a three-pointer from the left wing at the 7:25 mark.

Merrimack scored 11 of the last 16 points of the half to take a 37-31 lead into the intermission. Solano scored the first seven points for the Warriors, who then got lay-ups from Kennedy and Riley Calzonetti.

Le Moyne cut Merrimack's  lead to two on a pair of occasions in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Warriors were able to maintain a lead between three and eight points throughout the stanza. The high point came on a Berry-Rogers three-pointer with 11:19 left, but the Dolphins answered right back with five straight points on a Mahoney three-pointer and a Lovell jumper to get within three.

Solano gave the Warriors a 64-57 lead with 7:07 remaining, but the Dolphins countered with six straight points to get within one with 4:41 to play. Gause started the push with a lay-up, Buczek followed with another and then Lovell converted two free throws.

Following three points from Strickland in a span of 30 seconds, the Dolphins embarked on their 7-0 run to take the lead.

Le Moyne (12-5, 6-4 NE-10), which has dropped four of its last six conference games (0-3 on the road) after winning its first four, returns to the hardwood on Wednesday at Saint Anselm College at 7:30 p.m.