Vestal, N.Y. – Graduate student forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) scored a career-high 35 points, but it wasn't enough as the Le Moyne College men's basketball team fell to Binghamton University, 91-79, on Saturday afternoon at the BU Events Center. The contest marked the first in the "Battle for the Interstate" rivalry series between the two programs.

Sutherland's 35 points are the most by a Dolphin since current head coach Nate Champion '14 tallied 35 in an overtime loss at Saint Rose on November 23, 2013. Sutherland connected on 12-of-17 shots, including 5-of-7 from three-point range, and went 6-of-6 from the foul line to get to his game-high point total. His 12 makes and 17 attempts are both tied for his career high, which he set in a 27-point performance at Florida Southern on December 18, 2021, while his five made three-pointers are a career high. He also tallied three rebounds, three assists and two blocks in the game.

Tymu Chenery led the Bearcats in the victory with a double-double of career highs of 31 points and 12 rebounds, while adding four blocks. He posed a similar shooting line to Sutherland by going 13-of-17, including 5-of-6 from three-point range, but did not take any foul shots. Armon Harried, whose father Herman was a member of the 1987 NCAA runner-up Syracuse squad, tallied a season-high 18 points and added four rebounds and four assists. Dan Petcash came off the bench to record 14 points in his return to the court after missing the last three games. Symir Torrence, a Syracuse native who played for the Orange the last two years, turned in his first career double-double with 13 points and a career high-tying 11 assists, while adding seven rebounds. Nehemiah Benson was the fifth Bearcat in double figures with 10 points.

"The biggest thing is we have to figure out ways to get some stops especially at the end of games," said Champion. "You know, I thought we did a good job punching back, really fighting and battling. They got some key offensive rebounds and some key putbacks at times where I thought if we got those stops we can really make it interesting and do the same thing we did at the end of the first half where you just kind of go on a run to end the game. Unfortunately, we didn't do that. I thought we played a lot harder than we did against Army, which is something I was extremely disappointed with after the Army game. But in order for us to win these games, it's the same thing, we have to get better at doing the technical things."

Binghamton opened the game with the first five points and nine of the first 11. Chenery had six of the points on a pair of three-pointers.

After the Dolphins trimmed their deficit back to three following a pair of three-pointers from junior forward Ocypher Owens (Orlando, Fla./Orlando Christian Prep/Indian River State), Chenery made another three-pointer and Harried had a dunk for a 16-8 lead for the Bearcats.

Le Moyne countered with seven straight points to close within a point. Owens had a baseline dunk, Sutherland made two free throws and then sophomore guard Trent Mosquera (Brookline, Mass./Belmont Hill School) drained a three-pointer.

The Bearcats answered with eight of the next 10 points to go back up by seven, 24-17, with 10:14 to go. Harried made a lay-up and then Petcash and Chris Walker nailed three-pointers around two Le Moyne free throws.

Following back-and-forth action over the next 3:38, during which Binghamton's lead bounced between five and eight points, the Dolphins closed out the half with a 16-4 run over the last 6:03. Sutherland ignited the run with his first three-pointer of the game to beat the shot clock, classmate Isaiah Salter (Charlotte, N.C./Central Cabarrus/American International/Adelphi) followed with a lay-up, Sutherland scored in the paint on three straight possessions and then he fed classmate Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) for a fallaway jumper to put the Dolphins in front for the first time with 1:26 left. After a miss by the Bearcats, Sutherland fed freshman guard AJ Dancler (Indianapolis, Ind./Southport) for a transition three-pointer with 1:05 remaining for a 41-37 lead, which Le Moyne carried into the intermission.

After graduate student guard Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) opened the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer for a 44-37 lead, the Bearcats scored nine straight points and 30 of the next 37 to take their largest lead of the game at 67-51 with 10:36 left. Harried scored nine points in the streak, Torrence had seven, Chenery and Petcash each had six and Benson had two.

Le Moyne answered with 13 of the next 15 points to trim its deficit back to five, 69-64, with 7:51 to play. Sutherland drained back-to-back three-pointers, McClure made a free throw after being flagrantly fouled, Sutherland buried another three-pointer and then DePersia drilled a three-pointer off a pass from Sutherland to force a Binghamton timeout.

Petcash and Chenery countered with three-pointers around two free throws from Sutherland to push the margin back to nine with 6:51 to go.

Following a jumper by Southerland to make it 77-70 with 5:15 remaining, Chenery scored six consecutive points to extend Binghamton's lead to 13 with 2:30 to play.

Mosquera had a lay-up and Sutherland buried his final three-pointer of the game to get the Dolphins within eight for the final time, but Binghamton scored eight of the final 12 points of the game, including going 6-of-8 from the foul line.

Le Moyne (3-7) returns home to face Dartmouth College on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The contest is the first in the program's history against a member of the Ivy League.