Lakeland, Fla. – Third-year sophomore forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) scored a career-high 27 points and third-year sophomore guard Jeremiah Washington (Chicago, Ill./Bogan/Ferris State) nailed an overtime-forcing three-pointer with 5.4 seconds left to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to a 95-89 victory over Florida Southern College on the first day of the Mocs Christmas Classic on Saturday night at George W. Jenkins Field House.

"I think you saw like styles tonight," said head coach Nate Champion '14, who was an assistant at Florida Southern from 2017-19. "After the game I talked to Mike (Donnelly, Florida Southern head coach). I've learned all of this stuff from him and just kind of built on it and just make sure we continue to grow as a team and that was our message coming into the game 'we've got to grow, we've got to continue to get better'. I thought we just battled and showed toughness tonight, which was awesome to see. We didn't get rattled. I thought there were times we went into our drought, but we just continued to play. That was a big thing for us coming down here and we have to turnaround and do it again tomorrow because they're (Saint Leo) super physical tomorrow. This tournament's not for the weak, that's for sure."

Sutherland registered 13 of his game-high point total in the first half and 11 in the second half, while adding six rebounds. Redshirt freshman guard Kevin Constant (Lawrence, Mass./Central Catholic/Tilton School) recorded seven of his 22 points in the overtime period, where the Dolphins outscored the Moccasins, 12-6. Redshirt freshman guard Christian Davis (Denver, Colo./Mullen/New Hampton School) posted 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while senior guard Payton Hudson (Yonkers, N.Y./Our Saviour Lutheran/Iona/Independence C.C.) tallied 10 points off the bench.

DeAndre Campbell led the Mocs offensively with 23 points in 30 minutes off the bench, including 14 points in the second half. Jack Casale registered 11 of his 19 points in the second half, while E.J. Dambreville tallied 10 of his 16 points in the second stanza to go with a game-best 12 rebounds and five assists. Wes Bongiorni turned in a season-high 10 points off the bench.

After Dambreville opened the game's scoring, the Dolphins rattled off the next 11 points. Sutherland, Constant and Davis made jumpers, Sutherland converted a lay-up and then Washington knocked down a jumper.

Le Moyne took its first double-digit lead at 15-5 with 15:06 left in the first half on a fast-break jumper by Constant off a steal.

The Mocs countered with a 10-4 spurt to trim its deficit to four and force a Le Moyne timeout. Casale and Olafur Gunnlaugsson hit three-pointers and Dominick Denny and Dambreville scored in the paint.

After the teams traded 5-0 runs, the Dolphins scored seven in a row to open up a 31-20 lead with 5:39 left in the half. Davis scored the last five points on a three-pointer and a jumper.

The Dolphins took their largest lead of the game with 3:23 remaining in the half on a jumper in the paint by Sutherland to go up 38-25.

The teams traded points the remainder of the half as the Dolphins took a 43-32 lead into the intermission.

Following a free throw by the Dolphins to open the scoring in the second half, the Mocs scored six in a row and 15 of the next 20 points to close within 49-47 with 15:45 to go in regulation. Casale had five of the first eight points in the stretch, while Campbell scored the final five to force a Le Moyne timeout.

After Le Moyne pushed its lead back to six on a tip-in by freshman guard Zy'Ever Wingfield () with 13:46 left, the Mocs scored 14 consecutive points over 2:50 to go up by eight. Five players scored in the span for the Mocs, led by four from Bongiorni and capped on a three-pointer by Casale with 10:35 to go.

Le Moyne closed within four on four occasions over the next five minutes minutes, but Casale made a jumper and Campbell drained a three-pointer to give Florida Southern its largest lead of the game at 77-68 with 4:17 to play.

The Dolphins answered with 10 of the next 12 points to get within one with 1:28 remaining. Davis made two free throws, Washington hit one and then buried a three-pointer and Constant followed with four foul shots over two possessions to make it 79-78.

Dambreville put the Mocs back up three with 52.3 seconds to go, but Sutherland answered with a jumper with 30.7 ticks to play. Campbell pushed the margin back to three with two free throws with 17.6 seconds remaining.

After Florida Southern called timeout after Campbell's second free throw, the Dolphins worked the ball around before Washington was able to get off the game-tying three-pointer with 5.4 seconds remaining.

The Mocs pushed the ball up court and Dambreville got off a three-pointer, but Constant was able to get a hand on the shot and it fell well short as time expired.

Constant opened the scoring in overtime with a three-pointer before Campbell and Bongiorni made lay-ups around a Constant free throw to knot the score at 87 with 3:18 to go.

Constant and Hudson followed with two free throws each to put the Dolphins up 91-87 with 2:50 remaining.

Campbell got the Mocs within 91-89 with 2:33 left, but the Mocs didn't score again. Sutherland made a foul shot with 1:04 left and a lay-up with 11.9 seconds remaining. Constant finished off the scoring with 3.7 seconds to play.

Le Moyne (6-5) completes its trip to the Sunshine state on Sunday against Saint Leo University at 5:30 p.m. at Jenkins Field House.