Syracuse, N.Y. – First-year graduate student guard Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) tallied 15 points to lead the sixth-seeded Le Moyne College men's basketball team to a 77-74 victory over 11th-seeded Saint Michael's College on Friday night in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championships at Ted Grant Court.

"It was a tough fought game for us," said head coach Nate Champion '14. "I thought we did a really good job in the first eliminating what they wanted to do by getting into the paint and we got away from that in the second half and that's a reason why they had 47 points in the second half to their 27 in the first half. We have to put two halves together meaning when the game plan is to keep them out of the paint, that should be the number one priority, but at this time of year, the win is all that matters and that's what we got today."

With the victory, the Dolphins advance to the NE10 quarterfinals and will take on third-seeded Bentley University on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in Waltham, Massachusetts.

McClure tallied nine of his team-high point total in the second half, while adding four assists and three rebounds. Junior guard Darrick Jones Jr. (Richmond, Va./Oak Hill Academy/Towson) recorded a career-best 14 points, including eight in the first half, while grabbing five rebounds. Senior forward Xavier Wilson (Spring Valley, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac/The Hotchkiss School/Central Connecticut State) posted 13 points, five assists and four rebounds. Redshirt sophomore guard Kevin Constant (Lawrence, Mass./Central Catholic/Tilton School) registered 12 points, including seven in the second half.

CJ Crews led all scorers in the game with a career-high 26 points, including 16 in the first half. Alan Brzezinski turned in 19 of his career-high 21 points in the second half, while adding six rebounds. Darrel Yepdo recorded 14 points (12 in the second half), eight assists, five rebounds and four steals.

The Dolphins, who improve to 3-5 in postseason play and 47-45 overall against the Purple Knights, the most common opponent in the program's 74-year history, opened the game with the first seven points, capped by a three-pointer from McClure with 16:02 left in the half.

After the teams split the next 20 points, resulting in a 17-10 Le Moyne lead with 10:37 left, the Purple Knights scored seven in a row and 10 of the next 12 to take their first lead of the game. Romar Reid started the run with a lay-up and Crews capped it with back-to-back three-pointers.

Following a Crews jumper to put Saint Michael's up 22-21 with 6:19 remaining, the Dolphins rattled off 11 points in a row over two and one-half minutes for their first double-digit lead of the game. McClure buried another three-pointer to ignite the run, Wilson had a lay-up and free throw on separate possessions, freshman guard Trent Mosquera (Brookline, Mass./Belmont Hill School) converted a tip-in and then Jones Jr. drained a three-pointer.

After Crews hit another three-pointer, Wilson made a jumper and Jones Jr. nailed another three-pointer to give the Dolphins their largest lead of the game, 37-25, with 49 seconds left.

Brzezinski converted two foul shots with 28 seconds left to get the Purple Knights within 37-27 at halftime.

Brzezinski started the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer, but Wilson answered with four points.

After Brzezinski traded three-pointers with jump shots from first-year graduate student guard Isaiah Salter (Charlotte, N.C./Central Cabarrus/American International/Adelphi), which resulted in the Dolphins holding a 45-36 lead with 16:07 left, the Purple Knights scored 13 of the next 15 points to take the lead with 12:22 remaining. Crews made two free throws, Yepdo had a jumper, Brzezinski made another three-pointer, Yepdo had consecutive jumpers and then Chuma Oyigbo scored in the paint for a 49-47 edge.

Le Moyne countered with six straight points to take the lead back. Wilson made two free throws and then McClure had back-to-back lay-ups.

Saint Michael's answered with seven points in a row, including five from Brzezinski to regain the lead with 8:12 remaining.

Following a three-pointer by first-year graduate student guard Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) to put the Dolphins up 58-56 with 7:45 left, the Purple Knights scored nine of the next 10 points to take their largest lead of the game, 65-59, with 5:51 remaining. Nahshon Battle and Yepdo made jumpers and then Crews converted a conventional three-point play. After a DePersia free throw, Brzezinski made a pair of foul shots.

Le Moyne connected on three of its next four three-point attempts to close within 69-68 with 3:44 left. Jones Jr. made the first, McClure followed a Crews jumper with a three-pointer of his own and two possessions later Jones Jr. buried another to answer a Yepdo jumper.

Following another Yepdo jumper, Constant had a lay-up and a fast-break dunk for a 72-71 lead off a half-court pass from DePersia, who went crashing through the Purple Knights' bench off a steal.

Crews put the Purple Knights in front for the final time with a three-pointer with 2:35, but those would mark the final points of the game for Saint Michael's.

After each team missed a shot, Constant scored in the paint with 1:13 left to tie the score at 74 and drew a foul. Following a timeout by Saint Michael's, Constant made the foul shot for the lead.

Saint Michael's got off three three-point attempts on its next possession before Yepdo drew a foul with 30 seconds left. He missed the front end of the "1-and-1" and DePersia corralled the rebound.

Yepdo tied up Salter with 12 seconds to get the ball back for the Purple Knights, but then committed a turnover himself with five seconds left. Wilson drew a foul on the ensuing in-bounds and converted two free throws with four seconds to play.

The Purple Knights were able to pass the ball to midcourt, but Salter was able to knock away the ensuing pass as time expired.