Syracuse, N.Y. – Lake Erie College started the second half with a 28-8 run en route to a 79-65 win over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team on Tuesday evening at Ted Grant Court.

"I just thought we were pretty flat from the start," said head coach Nate Champion '14. "I thought we went on a little bit of a run to start the game and then we missed a few bunnies and they got a few guys that started to get their stuff going. I thought Jordan Burton was pretty good tonight. We turned them over 11 times in the first half and I thought our defensive presence was pretty good, we just weren't executing on the offensive end and then in the second half we just didn't turn them over anymore and, you know, kudos to them, they did a good job of protecting the ball and they shot the ball better than they have all year and sometimes that just happens."

Redshirt freshman guard Christian Davis (Denver, Colo./Mullen/New Hampton School) registered his second double-double in three games with 16 points, including 11 in the first half, and a career-high 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Third-year sophomore forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) scored nine of his 14 points in the second half, while adding five rebounds and two blocks. Redshirt freshman guard Kevin Constant (Lawrence, Mass./Central Catholic/Tilton School) posted 10 points and had a career-high four steals.

Burton led the Storm in the victory with 21 points, including 16 in the second half, and six assists. Kevin Peterson tallied all 14 of his points in the second stanza. PJ Jones recorded 10 of his 13 points in the first half, while Leon Hughes scored eight of his 11 points before halftime.

The Dolphins opened the game with the first seven points over the initial 3:16. Sutherland bookended the spurt with a free throw and a jumper, while Constant and Davis both scored in the paint.

Lake Erie responded with the next eight points on three-pointers by Jones and Burton around a lay-up by Jackson Burdyshaw.

Le Moyne responded with an 8-3 run to go back up by five. Davis made a jumper and a three-pointer around baskets in the paint from redshirt freshman forward Isaiah Elmore (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Catholic) and senior forward Nicholas Johnson (Silver Spring, Md./John F. Kennedy/Frostburg St./Montgomery College).

After the teams split the next 20 points, resulting in a 26-21 lead for the Dolphins with 5:14 left in the half, the Storm scored seven in a row to take the lead back. Jacob Plantz and Hughes made lay-ups and then Damion Williams connected on a three-pointer with 3:50 to go.

The teams then alternated points the remainder of the half, capped off by a three-pointer from Plantz to put the Storm in front at the intermission, 35-33.

Following two points from each team in the first 81 seconds of the second half, the Storm rattled off 12 points in a row and 26 of the next 32 over 10 minutes to take a game-high 22-point lead with 8:28 to play. Peterson had five points in the 12-0 run and nine points in the overall stretch, which he capped with a fast-break lay-up for a 63-41 advantage, while Burton scored 10 points in the lengthy span, including a three-pointer on what was intended to be a lob pass into the paint.
 
After seven points from each team over the next three and one-half minutes, the Dolphins used a 14-6 spurt to cut their deficit back to 14 with 1:34 to play. Elmore made three free throws over two trips to the foul line, Sutherland buried a pair of three-pointers, third-year sophomore guard Jeremiah Washington (Chicago, Ill./Bogan/Ferris State) connected on a three-pointer and Davis made a jumper from the right corner.

Each team made three foul shots down the stretch to deliver the final score.

The Dolphins (5-5), who have dropped back-to-back games for the first time this year, are back in action on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Florida Southern College on the first day of the Mocs' Christmas Classic.

Additional quotes from head coach Nate Champion:
"We had guys that just didn't play well tonight, and sometimes that happens, and it seemed like they [Lake Erie] made everything. From a lob pass that goes into the basket, to people that are shooting under 20% banking in threes, and sometimes that's just the way basketball goes. But on the other side of that, you have to figure out ways to win games when that happens and we can't just continue to do the same thing and as a staff we have to figure out ways to get the ball in the basket."

"I thought we just went away from our game plan and went away from just being extremely tough and physical back with them. And I thought that was good in the first half, we just were missing shots. And I thought we were set up pretty well going into halftime, down two points and we were a little off but it wasn't like we weren't getting good shots, so I was feeling pretty confident going into half and then just coming out of halftime, our energy just really kind of dwindled and we just have to figure out ways to be better out of halftime."

"I just thought the quality of shots that we got to start the second half, it was not what we talked about at halftime. We definitely didn't execute our game plan there, we just have to figure out ways to be better."

"We knew it was going to be a physical game, we knew we had to be tougher than them tonight and we just weren't, so again, Lake Erie did a good job being prepared, being ready to go and I thought we were just a little flat and came up short."