Syracuse, N.Y. – Juvaris Hayes almost posted a triple-double to lead second-seeded Merrimack College to an 84-77 overtime win over the top-seeded Le Moyne College men's basketball team in the Northeast-10 Conference semifinals on Wednesday night at Ted Grant Court.

With the win, the Warriors advance to the NE10 Championship game for the first time in 19 years and will visit the University of New Haven on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Dolphins now await their seed in the NCAA Championships. The 64-team field will be announced on NCAA.com on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. The Dolphins moved up a spot to third in this week's East Region rankings, which were announced earlier in the day.

Senior forward C.J. Asuncion-Byrd (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich/St. Thomas More/Gannon), an NE10 all-Conference honorable mention selection, led all scorers in the game with a career-high 34 points, including 24 in the second half, on 15-of-21 shooting, while adding six rebounds. The 34 points are the most by a Dolphin since Nate Champion '14 scored 35 at Saint Rose on November 23, 2013 and are the most by a Dolphin at home since Laurence Ekperigin '10 tallied 36 against Adelphi on February 6, 2010. Redshirt junior guard Malik Garner (Midland, Mich./H.H. Dow/Sunrise Christian Academy/Saginaw Valley State) posted 14 points off the bench. Junior forward Kobi Nwandu (York, Pa./Northeastern York/East Stroudsburg) tallied 13 first-half points and grabbed a season-high eight rebounds, while classmate Tom Brown (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) turned in 10 points, seven rebounds and a team-high four assists.
 
Hayes, who was named the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year and to the all-conference first team on Tuesday, tallied 28 points, including 13 in the second half, a game-high nine rebounds (five offensive) and dished out nine assists. Ryan Boulter, a third team all-conference selection, finished the contest with 22 points despite a 2-for-10 night from behind the three-point line. Idris Joyner and Khalief Crawford added 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The Warriors opened the game with the first eight points as Hayes made a fast-break lay-up and then Crawford and Jaleel Lord drained three-pointers.

After the Dolphins got on the scoreboard, Hayes, who entered the game 6-for-25 from three-point range on the season, hit his second trifecta of the game to give Merrimack its first double-digit lead at 17-7 with 11:21 until halftime.

The Dolphins, who drop to 35-8 at home over the last three seasons, including 1-5 in overtime games, responded with a 13-3 run to even the score at 20 with 8:24 left in the half. Nwandu and Garner combined for all 13 points as Nwandu had a conventional three-point play, two more free throws and a fast-break dunk, while Garner buried a pair of three-pointers.

After the teams split the game's next 14 points, Merrimack closed out the half with 10 of the last 14 points to take a 37-31 lead at the intermission. Crawford had five of the points, while Boulter and Hayes converted lay-ups for the final points of the half.

Merrimack scored seven of the first 10 points in the second half to regain a double-digit lead.

Following a fast-break lay-up by Boulter to give the Warriors their final 10-point lead (50-40) of the night with 14:03 left, the Dolphins scored seven straight points to get within one possession with 11:38 to go. Asuncion-Byrd had five of the points, while Brown added a jumper.

After Merrimack's lead bounced between three and six points over the next 3:15, Asuncion-Byrd connected on a pair of jumpers in the paint to get the Dolphins with 60-58 with 6:44 to play.

The Warriors responded with a 9-2 run to push its lead back to nine with just over three and one-half minutes left. Boulter hit a three-pointer and then Crawford, Joyner and Hayes scored two points each.

Le Moyne answered with seven straight points and 10 of the last 11 points of regulation to force overtime. Asuncion-Byrd scored all seven points in the initial run over four possessions to get the Dolphins within 69-67 with 32 seconds left.

Hayes was fouled with 26 seconds left and went to the foul for a one-and-one. He made the first foul shot, but was unsuccessful on the second and the Dolphins collected the uncontested rebound. Garner then drained a three-pointer from the right wing with 13 seconds left to even the score at 70.

Merrimack committed an offensive foul with 2.5 seconds to give the Dolphins a chance to win the game in regulation, but a running shot was off the mark.

After Asuncion-Byrd started the scoring in the overtime period, the Warriors scored five straight points and 11 of the next 13 to take the lead for good. Hayes made two free throws, Boulter recorded a conventional three-point play for the lead, Hayes and Crawford made shots in the paint and then Boulter converted two free throws with 25 seconds left.

Garner answered with a three-pointer with 19 seconds remaining, but Hayes made one foul shot and Joyner connected on two to close out the game's scoring.