New Haven, Conn. – Junior guard Russell Sangster (Rockville, Md./Bullis School) tallied a career-high 24 points to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to an 81-63 victory over Southern Connecticut State University on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at Moore Field House.

Sangster recorded 15 of his career-best point total in the second half, while adding four rebounds and one steal. Sangster's previous scoring high of 20 came in the season-opening win over Concordia on November 12. Junior forward Daniel Kaigler (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Ludden/Gannon) posted a career high-tying 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. Junior forward Isaiah Eisendorf (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook/Gannon) and junior guard Anthony Richards (New Castle, Pa./New Castle/West Virginia Wesleyan) each recorded 11 points, while senior forward Stan Buczek (Port Jervis, N.Y./Burke Catholic) turned in a season-best 10 points.           

Michael Mallory led the Owls in the setback with 18 points, while adding seven rebounds. Jerry Luckett, Jr. recorded a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds. Joey Wallace posted 11 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Michael Bozzuto tallied 10 points.

After the teams traded points over the opening five minutes of the game, the Dolphins scored six of the next eight points to open up a 15-12 lead.

The Owls responded with a 10-2 run to take their largest lead of the game with 10:02 left to play in the first half. Bozzuto started the spree with a three-pointer and then Mallory scored seven straight points.

The Dolphins, who dropped the previous seven games in the series (dating back to 2/20/2013) and seven straight games at Moore Field House (dating back to 2/3/2010), responded with 11 straight points to take the lead back. Buczek and Sangster hit consecutive three-pointers and then Eisendorf scored five straight points.

Following a 4-0 spurt by the Owls to get within two, Le Moyne rattled off 12 consecutive points to take control of the game. Richards and junior guard Tanner Hyland (South Portland, Maine/South Portland/Bridgton Academy) buried three-pointers to start the streak and Kaigler finished it with the final five points.

Isaiah McLeod had a tip-in at the buzzer to get Southern Connecticut State within 40-28 at halftime.

After the teams split the first 16 points of the second half over the opening 6:04, the Dolphins tallied eight straight points to take their first 20-point lead of the game. Kaigler scored the first five points and then Hyland drained a three-pointer to force a timeout by the Owls with 12:12 left.

The teams traded points the remainder of the game with Le Moyne's lead bouncing between 14 and 22 points.

Le Moyne (7-3, 4-2 NE10), which won four of its first six conference games for third time in the last four years, is back in action next Saturday at Caldwell University at 12:00 p.m.