Syracuse, N.Y. – Ansley Almonor scored a career-high 30 points to lead FDU to a 68-58 victory over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team in Northeast Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Ted Grant Court.

Graduate student guard Kaiyem Cleary (Manchester, England/Redemption Christian Academy (NY)/Florida Southern/Florida Southwestern/Ball State) led the Dolphins with a double-double of 18 points and a career-best 14 rebounds. Sophomore guard Trent Mosquera (Brookline, Mass./Belmont Hill School) registered a season-high 15 points, including 12 in a span of 83 seconds midway through the second half. Graduate student forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) posted 13 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Almonor connected on 9-of-14 shots, including 6-of-8 from three-point range, to go with 6-of-7 shooting from the foul line en route to his game-high point total. He tallied 13 points in the first half and 17 in the second half. Joe Munden Jr. registered 19 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Following a lay-up by Cleary at the 17:16 mark to put the Dolphins up 7-4, FDU scored eight straight points to take a two-possession lead. Munden Jr and Almonor hit three-pointers and then Almonor made a jumper with 16:02 left in the half.

 After the teams traded points over the next six minutes, resulting in an 18-15 FDU lead, the Knights scored six points in a row for their largest lead of the half. Munden Jr. made a jumper, Jo'el Emanuel converted a free throw and Almonor drained a three-pointer.

Le Moyne answered with eight consecutive points to close within one and force an FDU timeout. Redshirt freshman forward Nate Fouts (Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles/Kimball Union Academy) started the streak with a jumper in the paint, Cleary had a fast-break dunk and made a free throw and then Mosquera buried a three-pointer from the right corner to force a timeout with the Knights lead down to 24-23 with 3:39 left.

Almonor drilled a three-pointer with 2:25 left for the final points of the half as the Knights took a 27-23 lead into halftime.

The Dolphins scored the first six points of the second half to take the lead. Sutherland converted a hook shot in the paint, Cleary knotted the score with a jumper in the paint and then Sutherland scored in the paint again for a 29-27 lead with 18:14 left.

After Terrence Brown had a conventional three-point play and Cleary answered with a jumper in the paint, the Knights responded with 11 consecutive points to take their first double-digit lead of the game. Emanuel made a jumper off an in-bounds pass out of a timeout, Almonor buried a three-pointer, Heru Bligen made a second-chance jumper, Almonor knocked down a jumper and then DeVante Jamison scored in the paint to force a Le Moyne timeout.

Out of the timeout, Mosquera registered his 12-point run to put the Dolphins in front. He recorded a conventional three-point play on the first possession, drained a three-pointer 27 seconds later, buried another trifecta 35 seconds later off a Le Moyne offensive rebound to force an FDU timeout and then drilled another three-pointer 21 seconds later in transition to put the Dolphins in front 43-41 with 10:42 left.

FDU countered with eight of the next 10 points to go back in front by four. Munden Jr. made a three-pointer for the lead, Almonor scored in the paint and then Munden Jr. drained another three-pointer with 6:45 left for a 49-45 advantage.

Cleary answered with a jumper and freshman guard AJ Dancler (Indianapolis, Ind./Southport) converted two foul shots to even the score for the final time with 5:16 to play.

The Knights rattled off 11 of the next 13 points over three minutes to put the game away. Almonor started the streak with a three-pointer, Brown made a free throw, Almonor hit another three-pointer and an ensuing free throw, Munden Jr. made two free throws and then Almonor made a foul shot for a 60-51 advantage with 2:01 remaining.

FDU went 8-of-10 from the foul line over the final 98 seconds around seven Le Moyne points to close out the game.
 
Le Moyne (12-16, 7-7 NEC), which slipped behind the Knights and into fifth place in the NEC standings, closes out its home schedule on Thursday against Wagner College at 7:00 p.m.