Erie, Pa. – First-year graduate student guard Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) drained a leaning, step-through three-pointer as time expired to give the Le Moyne College men's basketball team a 61-59 victory over Gannon University in the consolation game of the 38th Annual Gary Miller Classic on Saturday evening at the Highmark Events Center.

"Our guys fought hard and figured out a way to win," said head coach Nate Champion '14. "It was a complete team effort. Each guy added to winning and our relentless effort paid off!"

DePersia finished with 10 points, all of which came in the second half, to go along with six assists and six rebounds. Fourth-year junior forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) led the Dolphins in scoring with 20 points, 15 of which came in the first half, and added four rebounds. Redshirt sophomore guard Kevin Constant () tallied 10 second-half points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the foul line to go with five rebounds in just 10 minutes of action.

Josh Omojafo was the only Golden Knight to finish in double figures scoring with 11 points.

After the teams traded points over the opening 1:48, the Dolphins rattled off 11 straight points and 16 of the next 18 points for a 20-7 lead with 12:41 left. Salter ignited the run with a three-pointer and then Sutherland buried a three-pointer, made a lay-up, drilled another three-pointer, converted a driving lay-up and then capped the stretch by canning another three-pointer.

Gannon responded with a 13-2 run over 3:15 to pull within two. Omojafo began the streak with a three-pointer, Thomas Whitley hit a jumper, Berkay Yilmaz made a driving lay-up, Omojafo had a fast-break dunk and then made a pair of free throws and Demetrius Mims capped the span with a jumper in the paint.

The Dolphins pushed their lead back to six with the next four points. Sophomore guard Zy'Ever Wingfield (Richmond, Va./Henrico/Fork Union Military Academy) connected on two foul shots and then first-year graduate student guard Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) had a tip-in for a 26-20 lead with 7:27 remaining in the half.

Mims ended a scoring drought of 3:36 with a jumper and then Ronny Raphael had a fast-break lay-up off a steal to get Gannon within 26-24 with 4:56 left.

The teams then traded points the remainder of the half, resulting in a 34-32 lead for the Dolphins at halftime. Wingfield had three points in the stretch, redshirt sophomore forward Isaiah Elmore (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Catholic) had a put-back dunk and freshman guard Trent Mosquera (Brookline, Mass./Belmont Hill School) closed out the scoring in the half with a three-pointer, while Cenker Evran had six of Gannon's eight points in the span.

After Sutherland made a lay-up in transition to start the scoring in the second half, the Golden Knights scored five straight points and 11 of the next 15 points to open a five-point lead. Ali Ragab had a dunk and then Chris Clancy drained a three-pointer from the left corner in transition for the lead. DePersia gave the lead back to the Dolphins, but Raphael answered with a lay-up, Ragab had another dunk and then Whitley converted a put-back lay-up.

Following baskets by DePersia and Evran, the Dolphins ran off 12 of the next 15 points, including 10 in a row, to regain the lead. After Constant made two free throws and Whitley countered with a three-pointer, Constant made a pair of lay-ups, senior forward Xavier Wilson () hit a jumper from the left side to tie the score, Constant had a fast-break dunk off a steal and then made two more free throws for a 52-48 lead.

Gannon countered with the next seven points to regain the lead. Omojafo made a put-back lay-up and then knocked down a jumper 66 seconds later to tie the score. Clancy then buried a three-pointer 1:45 later for 55-52 lead with 3:17 left.

DePersia answered back with a conventional three-point play to even the score at 55 with 3:02 remaining, but Raphael put the Golden Knights back in front with 2:34 left and then Mims hit a step-back jumper with 1:39 to go for a four-point edge, 59-55.

Following an empty possession by each team, Sutherland nailed a three-pointer from the left wing to get the Dolphins within one with 43 seconds left.

After a pair of Le Moyne fouls around a Gannon timeout, the Dolphins allowed the Golden Knights to run the clock down and get a shot off, but it was missed and DePersia corralled the rebound with less than 10 seconds to go. He then raced up court and snaked his way to the right wing, where he hit his step-through three-pointer at the buzzer for the victory.

Le Moyne (3-4), which improves to 5-5 in five appearances at the Gary Miller Classic and 2-1 in the consolation game, returns to Northeast-10 Conference action on Wednesday at Franklin Pierce University at 7:30 p.m.