Painesville, Ohio – Junior guard Tim Leavell (Marion, Ind./Marion/State Fair C.C.) drilled a three-pointer with 3:26 left to give the Le Moyne College men's basketball team the lead for good as the Dolphins downed Lake Erie College, 84-80, on Friday night in non-conference action at the Osborne Athletics and Wellness Center.

Leavell finished the contest with 19 points, 14 of which came in the second half, while also recording two steals. Senior guard Zay Jennings (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Catholic Central/Caldwell) all tallied 19 points off the bench, with 12 coming in the second half. Sophomore guard Nino Hernandez (Gardner, Mass./The Winchendon School/Bryant) recorded 11 of his 15 points in the first half, while grabbing three rebounds and dishing out three assists. Graduate student forward Lonnie Rivera (Spring Valley, N.Y./Don Bosco Prep (N.J.)/American/Wagner) registered 10 first-half points.

Gabe Kynard, Lake Erie's all-time leading scorer with 1552 points, led the Storm in the setback with 17 points, 15 of which came in the second half, seven rebounds and four assists. Kevin Peterson recorded 11 of his 16 points after halftime and pulled down five rebounds. Harrison Riggs netted eight of his 14 points in the first half, dished out seven assists and had four steals.

After Hernandez made a lay-up to get the Dolphins within 7-6, the Storm scored nine of the next 11 points to take an eight-point lead. Riggs made a three-pointer, Jacob Plantz followed with a put-back lay-up, Kynard scored his only basket of the first half and then Kaleb Vaughn had a put-back lay-up.

Following a three-pointer by PJ Jones to give Lake Erie its largest lead of the game at 21-12 with 12:52 left, the Dolphins rattled off an 11-1 run to take their first lead of the game. Leavell made a lay-up and a three-pointer, Rivera made two foul shots, redshirt senior guard Malik Garner (Midland, Mich./H.H. Dow/Sunrise Christian Academy/Saginaw Valley State) made one free throw and then Rivera drained a three-pointer for the lead.

Lake Erie answered with five straight points and eight of the next 11 to take the lead back. Riggs made a lay-up and then Plantz and Peterson hit consecutive three-pointers for a 30-26 lead with 7:31 to go.

Le Moyne countered with 13 straight points to take a nine-point advantage. Hernandez and Jennings made lay-ups to tie the score at 30, Hernandez buried a three-pointer for the lead, Jennings made two free throws, Hernandez followed with two of his own and then redshirt senior forward Souleymane Gueye (Dakar, Senegal/Hachioji Academy (Tokyo, Japan)/Snow College) made his first jumper in 384 days for a 39-30 lead with 3:23 left in the half.

After two free throws by Lake Erie, Jennings drilled a three-pointer for Le Moyne's first 10-point lead of the game.

Ennis Thomas made a three-pointer with 2:03 left to get Lake Erie within 42-35 at halftime.

Following a three-pointer by Roland to start the scoring in the second half, the Storm scored six straight points to cut their deficit to four as Harrison recorded back-to-back conventional three-point plays.

Le Moyne pushed its lead to six on a pair of occasions before Lake Erie scored six straight points to tie the score at 49 with 15:01 to play. Jones made a foul shot, Erron James scored in the paint and then Vaughn knocked down a three-pointer.

After Leavell scored five straight points and Lake Erie countered with a pair of lay-ups, Jennings tallied eight consecutive points and Leavell followed with two free throws for Le Moyne's largest lead of the game, 64-53, with 11:40 left.

Lake Erie answered with a 16-2 run over 5:04 to take a 71-68 lead with 5:52 to play. Kynard scored the first nine points, Peterson made a lay-up, Kynard hit a jumper to tie the score and then Peterson buried a three-pointer for the lead.

The Dolphins scored four of the next five points to knot the score at 72 with 3:45 to play. Leavell made two free throws before senior forward Tom Brown (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) hit a jumper in the paint.

After Mitch Loomis made one free throw with 3:31 left, Leavell drained a three-pointer for the lead. Jennings followed with a lay-up and then sophomore forward BB Chuks-Mady (Hamilton, Ontario/GTA Prep) had a fast-break lay-up for a 79-73 advantage with 2:18 to play.

Thomas had a dunk and Kynard answered a Jennings jumper with a lay-up to get the Storm within four. After Chuks-Mady converted a foul shot, Peterson drilled a three-pointer with 21 seconds left, but senior guard Ryan Roland (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill/Mercyhurst) completed the game's scoring with two free throws with 19 seconds left. Chuks-Mady then blocked a shot and grabbed the rebound as the Dolphins were able to run out the clock.

Le Moyne (8-4), which has won an NE10-best five straight games, returns to Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday, January 4 at 3:00 p.m. against American International College.