Syracuse, N.Y. – Redshirt freshman guard Christian Davis (Denver, Colo./Mullen/New Hampton School) scored 17 points to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to a 64-59 victory over Assumption University on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at Ted Grant Court.

Davis tallied 12 of his 17 points in the second half by going 4-for-4 from the field, including a three-pointer, while going 3-for-3 from the foul line. Junior forward Xavier Wilson (Spring Valley, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac/The Hotchkiss School/Central Connecticut State) continued his run of strong play with 13 points (nine in the first half), seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Omar El Sheikh led the Greyhounds in the loss with 18 points and 21 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end. Njavan Stewart tallied 12 points, while Matthew Kelly, who entered the game averaging over 19 points, connecting on 47-percent of his three-pointers and committing just 1.33 turnovers per game, was held to 11 points, 1-of-5 shooting from long-range and was forced into six turnovers.

The Greyhound jumped out to a 5-1 lead before the Dolphins made their first field goal at the 16:05 mark.

Following a jumper by Stewart to give Assumption a 14-9 lead with 12:13 left, the Dolphins rattled off 11 straight points to take a six-point lead. Wilson made a jumper and a three-pointer around a jumper by senior guard Payton Hudson (Yonkers, N.Y./Our Saviour Lutheran/Iona/Independence C.C.). Third-year sophomore guard Jeremiah Washington (Chicago, Ill./Bogan/Ferris State) followed with a jumper and then Hudson knocked down another jump shot for a 20-14 advantage with 9:34 until halftime.

Assumption used a 6-2 burst to get within two, but Davis and Hudson nailed three-pointers and senior forward Nicholas Johnson (Silver Spring, Md./John F. Kennedy/Frostburg St./Montgomery College) made a pair of jumpers in the paint to give the Dolphins their largest lead of the half at 32-22 with 2:43 to go.

The Greyhounds scored the final three-points of the half to pull within 32-25 at the intermission.

After Davis and Stewart traded three-pointers, the Dolphins scored 13 of the next 18 points to open up their largest lead of the game at 48-33 with 13:20 to play. Davis scored five points in the run, redshirt freshman guard Kevin Constant (Lawrence, Mass./Central Catholic/Tilton School) made a pair of shots in the paint and Wilson and Johnson each hit shots.

Assumption responded with nine points in a row and 21 of the next 27 to even the score at 54 with 4:58 remaining. Kelly scored seven points in the span, while El Sheikh, Kani Glover and Cal Connelly each had four and Cooper Creek made a pair of foul shots.

Following another tie at 56, graduate student forward Armon Nasseri (Youngstown, Ohio/Spire Academy/Mercyhurst/Roberts Wesleyan) made two free throws with 3:16 left to give the Dolphins the lead for good.

El Sheikh made a free throw with 1:19 remaining to get the Greyhounds within one, but Davis hit a jumper with 46 seconds left and Wilson made two foul shots with 27 seconds to play. El Sheikh answered with a put-back lay-up, but it would mark Assumption's final points of the game as Davis closed out the scoring with two free throws with eight seconds left.
 
Le Moyne (9-8, 5-5 NE10) is back on Ted Grant Court on Monday against Pace University at 7:00 p.m. in a contest that was rescheduled from January 5.