Syracuse, N.Y. – James Patterson registered a double-double to lead 25th-ranked Saint Thomas Aquinas College to an 88-87 victory over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team in non-conference action at Ted Grant Court on Wednesday evening.

Sophomore guard Zy'Ever Wingfield (Richmond, Va./Henrico/Fork Union Military Academy) and graduate student guard Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) each scored 16 points to lead five Dolphins in double digits, while Wingfield grabbed five rebounds and McClure had four. Senior forward Xavier Wilson (Spring Valley, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac/The Hotchkiss School/Central Connecticut State) and fourth-year junior forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) each tallied 13 points off the bench, while Wilson had four rebounds, three blocks and three assists and Sutherland had five rebounds and two blocks. Fourth-year junior guard Jeremiah Washington (Chicago, Ill./Bogan/Ferris State) finished the contest with 10 points, two steals and two assists.

Patterson led four Spartans in double figures with a career-high 26 points to go along with a career-best 12 rebounds, all in just 21 minutes of action due to foul trouble. DeVante Jamison and Antonio Vendola each recorded 16 points, while Jamison added five rebounds and four assists. Jamal Barnes posted 10 points.

After the Spartans took their fourth three-point lead of the opening three and one-half minutes of the game, McClure and Wingfield buried three-pointers to give the Dolphins their first lead of the game.

Saint Thomas Aquinas answered with a 7-1 run to regain its three-point lead with 13:55 left, but the Dolphins countered with seven straight points to take their largest lead of the game at 20-16 with 12:09 left in the half. McClure drilled a three-pointer and then Sutherland and Wilson each scored two points.

The teams went back and forth the remainder of the half as each team took multiple three-point leads, but the margin was one in either direction the majority of the timespan.

After Jamison gave the Spartans their final three-point lead of the half with a jumper with 21 seconds left, freshman guard Trent Mosquera (Brookline, Mass./Belmont Hill School) drained a step-back three-pointer from the right corner as time expired to knot the score at 46 at halftime.

Following a fast-break dunk by Wingfield to start the scoring in the second half, Vendola connected on back-to-back three-pointers to ignite a 13-4 run to give Saint Thomas Aquinas its largest lead of the game at 59-52 with 15:15 remaining. Vendola added a free throw and another three-pointer in the run, while Jamison also knocked down a three-pointer.

Le Moyne responded with an 11-4 jaunt to even the score at 63 with 11:49 to play. Wilson started the streak with a conventional three-point play, McClure followed with a three-pointer, Sutherland recorded a conventional three-point play and then made a lay-up to tie the game.

After Wilson scored four points over two possessions to give the Dolphins a 67-66 advantage, Richard Smith made two free throws and Barnes had a four-point play to put the Spartans back up by five with 9:42 remaining.

The STAC lead bounced between one and four points over the next three and one-half minutes before McClure hit a three-pointer, Wilson made two foul shots and Sutherland made a free throw to put the Dolphin in front 79-77 with 4:15 remaining.

Patterson scored four points in a row to give the Spartans the lead, but it was short-lived as Sutherland responded with a three-pointer. Jamison countered with a jumper to give the lead back to STAC and then graduate student guard Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) connected on the first of two foul shots to knot the score at 83 with 2:15 to go.

After Patterson and Wilson scored in the paint to tie the score at 85, Patterson made the second of two free throws with 1:03 left to put the Spartans up for good. Following a turnover by the Dolphins with 39 seconds left, Patterson drew a foul with 13.1 seconds and converted both foul shots for an 88-85 advantage.

The Spartans fouled with just over four seconds left before the Dolphins could get off a potential game-tying three-pointer. Graduate student guard Isaiah Salter (Charlotte, N.C./Central Cabarrus/American International/Adelphi) made both free throws to get the Dolphins back within one.

Le Moyne committed a foul on the ensuing in-bounds pass, sending Jamison to the charity stripe. Jamison missed both of his attempts and after the second, Sutherland pulled down the rebound and called timeout with 2.8 seconds left.

The Dolphins were unable to get off a shot before time expired.
 
Le Moyne (0-3), which has dropped its first three games for the first time since the 2004-05 season, opens Northeast-10 Conference play on Saturday at home against Pace University at 3:00 p.m.