Game #7: Le Moyne (2-4) vs. Lafayette (1-5) 
Info: Friday, Nov. 28 | 4:30 p.m. | Easton, Pa. | Kirby Sports Center
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: FOX Sports 92.5 FM/1490 AM
Live Stats: https://goleopards.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Lafayette Links: Schedule | Roster | News

Game #8: Le Moyne (2-4) vs. Monmouth (2-3) 
Info: Saturday, Nov. 29 | 2:00 p.m. | Easton, Pa. | Kirby Sports Center
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: FOX Sports 92.5 FM/1490 AM
Live Stats: https://goleopards.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Monmouth Links: Schedule | Roster | News

Game #9: Le Moyne (2-4) vs. Ball State (2-3)
Info: Sunday, Nov. 30 | 12:00 p.m. | Easton, Pa. | Kirby Sports Center
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: FOX Sports 92.5 FM/1490 AM
Live Stats: https://goleopards.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Ball State Links: Schedule | Roster | News

Easton, Pennsylvania – The Le Moyne College men's basketball team will travel to eastern Pennsylvania to play in three games in The Lafayette Classic this weekend, Nov. 28-30. The Dolphins will take on Lafayette on Friday evening with tip-off at 4:30 p.m. followed by a matchup with Monmouth on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. before closing out the weekend against Ball State on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Dolphins fell to the Fairfield Stags at home on Saturday, 97-83, despite a strong offensive showing from multiple contributors. Redshirt junior guard Trent Mosquera led Le Moyne in scoring with 18 points, while tallying seven rebounds and three assists. Graduate student forward Shilo Jackson matched him with 18 points of his own, shooting 5-6 from the field and a perfect 8-8 at the free throw line while hauling in nine rebounds and blocking three shots. Junior guard Samuel Hincapie added 10 points in 15 minutes off the bench.

YEAR #3
The Dolphins are in their third year transitioning to the Division I level (as members of the NEC) and Le Moyne is the only school in the third year of the transition process. The Dolphins went 15-17 in their first season at the Division I level, including 9-7 in NEC action to earn the fourth seed in the conference tournament. The Dolphins won their first game of the NEC Championship over FDU, 82-61, before falling in the semifinals at Merrimack. The program went 9-23 a year ago, including 4-12 in NEC play, and was the eighth seed in the conference tournament.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Le Moyne and Lafayette have faced each other only one time prior, an 89-75 win for the Leopards on Dec. 30, 1970 as part of the Le Moyne Invitational.  
 
This weekend will be the first time in program history that Le Moyne will play the Monmouth Hawks and the Ball State Cardinals in a regular season game. However, the Dolphins and Hawks have split two exhibition contests (Monmouth in 2003 and Le Moyne in 2013). In Le Moyne's 75-66 win over Monmouth in 2013, current head coach and then-senior Nate Champion had 30 points (15 in each half), nine rebounds, four assists and three steals in 40 minutes.

COMMON OPPONENTS
The Dolphins and Lafayette have three common opponents this year outside of this weekend, Texas, Stonehill and Mercyhurst. The Dolphins visit Texas on December 16, host Stonehill on January 31 and Mercyhurst on February 12 and visit Mercyhurst on January 4 and Stonehill on February 21. Lafayette fell at Texas on November 8, 97-60, fell at Stonehill last Friday, 74-70 and hosts Mercyhurst on December 5.

The Dolphins and Monmouth have one other common opponent this year, Fairfield. The Dolphins fell to the Stags at home last Saturday, while the Hawks visit Fairfield on December 14.

The Dolphins and Ball State both face UMass and Bowling Green. The Dolphins fell at Bowling Green on November 9 and UMass on November 13. Ball State heads to UMass on January 10 and hosts the Minutemen on February 24, while heading to Bowling Green on February 3

JESUIT CONNECTION
The Dolphins face three fellow Jesuit institutions this season. They fell at Xavier University on November 6, 74-69, fell at home to Fairfield University on November 22, 97-83, and head to Boston College on December 28.

WELCOME BACK
The Dolphins feature six returning letterwinners and two redshirts. Sam Donnelly is a second-year graduate student, Nate Fouts, Trent Mosquera and Kaelin Thomas are redshirt juniors, Deng Garang and Trevor Roe are redshirt sophomores and Jakob Blakley and Isaac Nyakundi are sophomores.

NEW FACES
The Dolphins welcomed seven new players to the program for 2025-26. Ametri Moss, who spent two years apiece at State College of Florida and North Florida, and Shilo Jackson, who joined the team following two years each at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Vincennes, are graduate students; Tennessee Rainwater, who enrolled at Le Moyne following two seasons at Utah Tech, and Samuel Hincapie, who came to Le Moyne after two years at Lake Land College, are juniors and Jakai Sanders is a sophomore after one year at Saint Peter's, while Eli Greenberg and Josiah Lee are freshmen.

NEC PRESEASON POLL
In the NEC preseason coaches' poll, the Dolphins were picked to finish ninth in the regular season standings, the same position they finished last year. LIU, which advanced to the semifinals last year, was the unanimous selection to win the league, while back-to-back regular season champion Central Connecticut State landed second in the preseason coaches poll. Stonehill College finished third and Mercyhurst University, which is eligible for the conference tournament this year, placed fourth. FDU, which fell to CCSU in the semifinals, landed fifth and Chicago State, last year's seventh seed, moved up a spot from a year ago. Defending tournament champion Saint Francis University placed seventh in the poll and Wagner College, the 2024 champion, finished eighth. Conference newcomer University of New Haven rounded out the poll in 10th.

PRIME PERFORMERS
The Dolphins have had three players earn Northeast Conference weekly Prime Performer honors.
Trent Mosquera – 11/10
Jakai Sanders – 11/17
Shilo Jackson – 11/24

DOLPHINS IN THE NEC STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Trent Mosquera is third in the NEC in three-point percentage (.439) and three-pointers per game (3.0), fourth in steals (1.8), eighth in scoring (14.0), 11th in minutes (30.2), 12th in assists (2.5) and 13th in rebounding (5.5). Shilo Jackson is second in blocks (1.8), fourth in rebounding (7.8), fifth in free throw percentage (.800), 11th in scoring (12.8) and 20th in assists (2.0). Deng Garang is seventh in minutes (31.8), 12th in steals (1.3), 13th in assists (2.3), 15th in scoring (12.0), and 18th in three-pointers per game (1.2). Jakai Sanders is second in assists (4.0), fourth in free throw percentage (.815), sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.6) and minutes (32.0), 18th in rebounding (.4.8) and 23rd in scoring (10.5).

COACH CHAMP
Le Moyne head coach Nate Champion '14 is the sixth-youngest head coach in Division I this season following back-to-back years as the second-youngest, celebrating his 34th birthday in early December. Tevon Saddler (30) at Nicholls is the youngest, while Saah Nimley (Charleston Southern), John Andrzejek (Campbell) and Zach Chu (Radford) are all 32 and Ronnie Thomas (Longwood) is 33. In his first five seasons leading the Dolphins, Champion has posted a 70-79 record and led the Dolphins to the conference tournament each season and the 2020 NCAA Tournament (canceled prior to first game due to COVID pandemic). Champion served as an assistant coach at fellow NEC member Stonehill during the 2016-17 season.

FIRST WINS
The Dolphins earned their first win as a Division I program on November 13, 2023 over Division III SUNY Canton, 105-46. They claimed their first victory as a Division I program over a Division I program on November 21, 2023 at CSUN, 80-70, during the first game of the Golden State Hoops Jam. They collected their first home victory as a Division I program over a Division I program on December 16, 2023 over Dartmouth College, 80-54. The 'Phins earned their first NEC victory on January 6, 2024 at FDU, 74-63.

SCOUTING LAFAYETTE
The Leopards are led by Mike McGarvey, who is in his third full season as head coach for the program.  McGarvey was appointed interim head coach during the latter half of the 2022-23 season, leading the Leopards to a 2-3 finish over their five games and reaching the Patriot League championship game where they fell to Colgate, 79-61. He became permanent head coach on March 29, 2023. Lafayette is 27-49, including 17-21 in Patriot League play, under his direction.
 
Lafayette returned nine players, including four starters, from its 2024-25 team that went 13-20 overall and 7-11 in Patriot League play, while adding six freshmen and one transfer.

Lafayette is off to a 1-5 start to the season. The Leopards lone victory so far was their home opening win over Division III Dickinson College on Nov. 3, 79-44. 
 
Sophomore guard Caleb Williams, the team's leading scorer at 17.0 a game, tallied a season-high 20 against Texas on Nov. 8. Williams is shooting 42.1% from three-point range this season on over six attempts a night. 
 
Junior guard/forward Andrew Phillips is second in scoring averaging 16.7 per contest. He scored a season-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Leopards most recent outing, a 74-70 loss to Stonehill on Nov. 21. 
 
SCOUTING MONMOUTH
Monmouth is led by long-time head coach King Rice. Rice is in his 15th year at the head of the program. Monmouth is 223-231, including 145-119 in conference play, under his direction. Rice is a three-time MAAC Coach of the Year winner.
 
The Hawks return 10 players, including three starters, from its 2024-25 team that went 13-20 overall and 10-8 in CAA play, while adding four freshmen and two transfers. 
 
Monmouth is off to a 2-3 start to the season. The Hawks won their season opener at home over Caldwell University on Nov. 4, 96-68. Freshman forward Stefanos Spartalis tallied a team-high 16 points in the victory. He leads the team in scoring this season at 15.0 per game.
 
The Hawks won their most recent outing at home over Robert Morris in overtime on Nov. 23, 71-70.  Sophomore guard Justin Ray scored 18 to lead the team while adding three assists and three rebounds. Ray is shooting 54.5% from the 3-point line this season on over four attempts a game. 
Senior center Dok Muordar recorded four blocks in 11 minutes played. He is averaging a team-high 2.4 blocks per contest.
 
SCOUTING BALL STATE
Ball State is led by fourth-year head coach Michael Lewis. The Cardinals are 51-48, including 25-29 in Mid-American Conference play, under his direction. Lewis came to Ball State following a four-year stint as an assistant under Mike Cronin at UCLA. 
 
The Cardinals return four players, including starting guard Mason Jones, from its 2024-25 team that went 14-17 overall and 7-11 in conference play, while adding three freshmen and seven transfers.
 
Ball State is off to a 2-3 start to the season. The Cardinals notched a season opening victory at home over Louisiana in the MAC-SBC Challenge on Nov. 3, 75-64. Redshirt sophomore guard Davion Hill tallied a team-high 16 points while adding eight rebounds and four assists. Junior guard Armoni Zeigler recorded 13 points of his own while adding five assists and three rebounds. Zeigler leads the team in scoring this season at 11.8 points per game. 
 
The Cardinals won their following contest at home over Mansfield University on Nov. 7, 84-54. Zeigler recorded a game-high 20 points while adding nine rebounds and five steals. Senior guard Elmore James IV tallied 11 points in 24 minutes off the bench. James is shooting 50% from the field and 41.7% from the arc this season. Graduate senior forward Cam Denson poured in 10 points of his own off the bench while recording two steals and blocking two shots. 
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Le Moyne will travel to Vestal, N.Y. to take on Binghamton University in the annual "Battle for the Interstate".  The Dolphins will face the Bearcats on Saturday, Dec. 6 with tipoff scheduled for 4:00 p.m.