Game #15: Le Moyne (6-8) vs. Saint Francis (2-11) 
Info: Sunday, Jan. 4 | 2:00 p.m. | Erie, Pa. | Owen McCormick Court at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center
Watch: NEC Front Row
Radio: FOX Sports 92.5 FM/1490 AM
Live Stats: https://hurstathletics.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Mercyhurst Links: Schedule | Roster | Stats | News

Erie, Pa. – The Le Moyne College men's basketball team wraps up its two-game road trip to Western Pennsylvania and a stretch of nine straight games away from home overall on Sunday at Mercyhurst University.

LAST TIME OUT
The Dolphins opened NEC action with an 84-58 victory at Saint Francis on Friday night. Junior guard Samuel Hincapie tallied a career-best 18 points, including 11 in the first half, as he led five Dolphins in double figures, while adding six rebounds and four assists. Redshirt junior guard Trent Mosquera posted nine of his 15 points after halftime and pulled down five rebounds. Sophomore guard Jakob Blakley went 4-for-4 from the field, including 3-of-3 from three-point range, and 2-of-2 from the foul line en route to 13 points, while adding a season-best five rebounds. Graduate student forward Shilo Jackson turned in 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Junior guard Tennessee Rainwater recorded 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field.

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
The Dolphins and Lakers are meeting on the hardwood for the 22nd time, with the Dolphins holding a 18-3 series advantage. Le Moyne won 16 of the 17 games played between 1984 and 1994, including each of the last 15, while the teams split matchups in 2019 and 2021. In their first season as NEC foes last year, each team won its home matchup.

COMMON OPPONENTS
The Dolphins and Lakers each played Lafayette College and Binghamton University during non-conference action. The Dolphins defeated the Leopards, 76-63, on November 28 and Binghamton, 78-63, on December 6, while Mercyhurst fell to Lafayette, 79-71, on December 5 and defeated Binghamton, 82-61, on December 20.

JESUIT CONNECTION
The Dolphins faced 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 lost to Boston College, 72-64, 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, 12/1, 12/8                           Jakai Sanders – 11/17, 12/22
Shilo Jackson – 11/24, 12/1, 12/8, 12/30

NET RANKINGS
Through games on January 2, Le Moyne is 286th in the latest NCAA NET rankings, fourth among NEC members, while Mercyhurst is ranked 327th, seventh among NEC members.

DOLPHINS IN THE NEC STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Shilo Jackson leads the NEC in rebounding (8.9) (43rd nationally but Le Moyne student-athletes don't qualify for national rankings during the institution's transition period), offensive rebounding (3.21) (tied for 53rd nationally) and double-doubles (7) (tied for 13th nationally). He is second in field goal percentage (.628) (21st nationally), made free throws (53) and blocks (2.07) (tied for 30th nationally), third in defensive rebounding (5.6) (tied for 65th nationally), eighth in scoring (14.7), ninth in free throw percentage (.726) and 19th in assists (2.1). Trent Mosquera leads the NEC with a 41.4 three-point percentage (58th nationally) and is third in three-pointers per game (2.93) (tied for 60th nationally), fifth in steals (1.6), eighth in defensive rebounding (4.6), ninth in minutes (31.4), 10th in scoring (14.4), 15th in rebounding (5.3) and 19th in assists (2.1). Deng Garang is 10th in minutes (31.1) and blocks (0.9), 13th in three-pointers per game (1.5), 14th in steals (1.2) and 16th in scoring (12.1). Jakai Sanders leads the conference in made free throws (57), is second in assists (4.6), third in assist/turnover ratio (1.9), sixth in free throw percentage (.770), 14th in minutes (29.8) and 23rd in scoring (10.3).

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 of games 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 MERCYHURST
The Lakers are led by 23rd-year head coach Gary Manchel. In 32 overall seasons as a head coach at UMass Lowell and Mercyhurst, Manchel has posted a 523-361 record, including 393-244 at Mercyhurst. He guided the Lakers to the NCAA Division II Tournament seven times, including winning the Atlantic Regional in 2019.

Mercyhurst returned eight players, all of which played at least 14 games, including seven who played in at least 23, from its 2024-25 team that went 15-16 overall in its first season of Division I competition, including 9-7 in NEC play to finish third in the conference standings, while adding three freshmen and four transfers.

The Lakers went 5-8 during non-conference play and opened NEC action with a 74-67 setback to FDU on Friday night. In the setback to FDU, Bernie Blunt III led three players in double figures with a game-high 21 points. Jake Lemelman recorded 12 points and Deshaun Jackson Jr. scored 10 points and dished out six assists.

Blunt III, whose father scored 2507 points at nearby Jamesville-DeWitt High School and led the Red Rams to the New York State and Federation Championships as a senior in 1990, when he was named the NYS Class B Player of the Year, before embarking on a Big 5 Basketball Hall of Fame career at St. Joseph's University, leads the Lakers (and is fourth in the NEC) in scoring at 16.4 points. Lemelman is the only other Laker in double figures at 12.3 points to go with 2.85 assists and a team-best 1.5 steals.

DEDICATED DUO
Le Moyne's Chris Granozio and Don Familo are in their 34th season calling men's basketball games. They are currently the third-longest tenured Division I radio broadcast duo. They trail only Wichita State's Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl (46th) and Providence's John Rooke and Joe Hassett (37th). Baylor's John Morris and Pat Nunley (31st) and BYU's Greg Wrubell and Mark Durrant (29th) round out the top five.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Le Moyne plays its first home game at Ted Grant Court in 47 days on Thursday against the NEC's newest member, the University of New Haven, at 7:00 p.m.