Fairfield, Conn. – Raheem Solomon and Nico Galette combined for 45 points to lead Sacred Heart University to an 87-81 come-from-behind victory over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team in Northeast Conference action on Saturday afternoon at the William H. Pitt Center.

Graduate student forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) led the Dolphins in the loss with 26 points, 14 of which he scored in the first half, while adding five rebounds. Graduate student guard Kaiyem Cleary (Manchester, England/Redemption Christian Academy (NY)/Florida Southern/Florida Southwestern/Ball State) tallied 23 points, including 14 in the first half, four rebounds and two blocked shots. Graduate student guard Isaiah Salter (Charlotte, N.C./Central Cabarrus/American International/Adelphi) recorded 12 second-half points and dished out seven assists for the second time in three games.

Solomon led the Pioneers offensively with 23 points, including 15 after halftime, on 9-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three-point range, while adding seven rebounds. Nico Galette recorded a double-double of 22 points, including 14 in the second half, and 10 rebounds, while adding three assists, two blocks and two steals. Brendan McGuire posted nine points, 10 assists and five rebounds.

The teams traded runs over the first 9:06 of the contest. The Pioneers scored the first six points of the game, the Dolphins answered back with seven straight, Sacred Heart scored six in a row again and then Le Moyne scored five straight to even the score at 12 with 10:54 left. Galette scored the first four and Solomon tallied the final three, while Cleary had the first three for Le Moyne and six total in the span, while Sutherland had four straight in the stretch.

After Solomon put the Pioneers up 19-18 with a jumper with 7:01 remaining, Cleary made a lay-up and Sutherland followed with a three-pointer for a four-point advantage with 4:50 to go.

Sacred Heart countered with an 8-4 spurt to knot the score at 27 with 3:22 left. Aidan Carpenter and Solomon each buried three-pointers in the span.

Following a tie at 29, Le Moyne outscored the Pioneers, 9-4, over the final 2:16 to take a 38-33 lead into the intermission. Sutherland, classmate Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) and freshman guard AJ Dancler (Indianapolis, Ind./Southport) each drained a three-pointer in the stretch for the Dolphins.

After the teams traded points over the opening two and one-half minutes of the second half, Galette connected on a three-pointer and Carpenter made a transition lay-up off a feed from Galette to pull the Pioneers within one with 16:20 left.

The Dolphins countered with seven straight points over 65 seconds to take their largest lead of the game, 51-43, with 14:58 left. Graduate student guard Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) drilled a three-pointer and then Cleary and Sutherland knocked down jump shots.

Following alternating points over the ensuing two and one-half minutes, the Pioneers used a 10-3 run to even the score at 61 with 9:39 left. Galette had six points in the stretch, including two free throws to tie the score.

Cleary and redshirt freshman forward Nate Fouts (Skaneateles, N.Y./Skaneateles/Kimball Union Academy) followed with baskets in the paint to put the Dolphins up 65-61, but Sacred Heart answered with 14 of the next 16 points to take its largest lead of the contest, 75-67, with 4:51 remaining. Five Pioneers scored in the span, led by five points from Mike Sixsmith and capped by a Galette lay-up.

After four points from each team over the next two minutes, Salter made a lay-up and Cleary recorded a three-point play to trim Le Moyne's deficit to 79-76 with 1:23 to play.

Solomon answered with a three-pointer to push his team's lead back to six.

Following two empty possessions and two foul shots by each team, Salter connected on a step-back three-pointer with 14 seconds to get the Dolphins within three for the final time.

Solomon had a fast-break dunk off a 70-foot pass from McGuire with 13 seconds left and Sixsmith made a foul shot with three seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

Le Moyne (9-13, 4-4 NEC) continues its stretch of consecutive road games on Thursday at Stonehill College at 7:00 p.m.