Syracuse, N.Y. – Fourth-year junior forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) tallied 18 points to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to a 63-59 win over Pace University on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at Ted Grant Court.

"I'm just super proud of our guys," said head coach Nate Champion '14. "We talked about a quick turnaround [after] Saint Thomas Aquinas, losing the way that we did, there's two ways that you can go – You can turn around and feel bad for yourself and come out flat (against Pace), or we can prepare the right way and I thought we really did that tonight. I'm so proud of our guys for just working at it. For continuing to believe in what we're doing, and our guys just played so hard tonight, and it was awesome to see us come out on top."

Sutherland scored 15 of his game-high point total in the second half, while finishing the game with a team-high eight rebounds. First-year graduate student guard Nathan McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) was the only other Dolphin in double digits with 11 points, seven of which came in the first half, while adding seven rebounds and three steals. Fourth-year junior guard Jeremiah Washington (Chicago, Ill./Bogan/Ferris State) drilled a trio of three-pointers in the second half as the Dolphins outscored the Setters after halftime, 36-31.

Chaz Harvey led the Setters with 13 points off the bench to go with six rebounds and a pair of steals. Lyron Bennett, one of four players in the game to transfer within the conference over the offseason, scored 12 points, including eight in the first half. Bryan Powell was the third Setter to score in double figures with 10 points, while adding a game-high nine rebounds and blocking three shots.

The Dolphins jumped out to a 10-4 lead after four and one-half minutes of action. McClure started the scoring with a three-pointer, redshirt sophomore forward Isaiah Elmore (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Catholic) had a conventional three-point play, McClure made a free throw and then Sutherland drained a three-pointer.

Following spurts by each team over the next four and one-half minutes, the Setters scored 11 of the next 17 points to even the score at 20 apiece with 3:59 remaining in the half. Frankyn Batista started the stretch with a jumper, Harvey made two free throws and a jumper, Jabari Nurse converted a lay-up and then Bennett buried a three-pointer.

The teams traded points the remainder of the half before Harvey made a foul shot with just over two seconds left to put the Setters up 28-27 at halftime.

The Setters scored the first four points of the second half on jumpers by Bryan Powell and Bennett to take a five-point lead.

Le Moyne answered with 13 of the next 18 points to take a 40-37 lead with 14:05 left in the game. After Sutherland and Marc Dadika traded three-pointers, first-year graduate student guard Isaiah Salter (Charlotte, N.C. / Central Cabarrus/American International/Adelphi) drained a three-pointer, Sutherland made a lay-up off a pass from Salter to tie the score and then buried another three-pointer for the lead. Sutherland extended the lead to three with a pair of free throws.

After Pace scored the next three points over 4:43 to even the score at 40, McClure and Sutherland made jump shots in the paint to snap a scoreless drought of almost six minutes.

The Setters followed with seven straight points to take the lead back. Adonis Williams started the streak with a three-pointer, Bennett made a jumper in the paint and then Williams converted a pair of foul shots for a 47-44 lead with 6:34 remaining.

Washington answered with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to put the Dolphins in front and followed with another two possessions later for a 53-49 advantage with 4:05 to play.

Harvey cut the deficit in half with a jumper, but first-year graduate student guard Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J. / Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) buried a deep three-pointer to beat the shot-clock buzzer and Elmore drew a foul with the ball in the air to earn two foul shots. He made one to put the Dolphins up 57-51 with 1:43 left.

Each Powell brother hit a three-pointer around two free throws by McClure to get the Setters within 59-57 with 33 seconds left, but Sutherland connected on three free throws over two trips to the line and senior forward Xavier Wilson (Spring Valley, N.Y. / Archbishop Stepinac/The Hotchkiss School/Central Connecticut State) closed out the game with a free throw with one second left.

Le Moyne (1-3, 1-0 NE10), which won its first NE10 contest for the third straight year, is back on the hardwood Tuesday at Adelphi University at 7:30 p.m.

Additional quotes from head coach Nate Champion '14:
"We turned them over 21 times, that and holding them pretty quiet on the offensive rebounds and on the boards down the stretch was key. Pace came out and they were really attacking the glass and we knew they were going to do that. We held strong and we hit our free throws down the stretch."

"I think it's important for us to continue to trust what we're doing. We have a bunch of new guys and I know we lost in some heartbreaking fashions during two of our first three games, but we just told our guys to continue to trust what we're doing and continue to execute at a high level. And tonight, we saw the reward of that."

"Obviously, there were big plays from Jeremiah Washington and Luke Sutherland, but also there were big plays from other people all around the team throughout the game. We're not going to have one guy that's scoring 40 in a night. We're going to have a team effort. We preach that all the time. We have a lot of guys that can play and at some point, it's going to be your opportunity to shine, and tonight we had a few guys that did."