Game #25: Le Moyne (11-13, 6-5 NEC) vs. Saint Francis (6-16, 4-5 NEC)
Info: Saturday, Feb. 7 | 1:00 p.m. | Syracuse, N.Y. | Ted Grant Court
Watch: NEC Front Row
Radio: FOX Sports 92.5 FM/1490 AM
Live Stats: https://lemoynedolphins.com/sidearmstats/mbball/
Saint Francis links: Schedule | Roster | Stats | News
 
Syracuse, N.Y. — The Le Moyne College men's basketball team returns to Ted Grant Court to take on the Saint Francis Red Flash.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Dolphins fell at Wagner on a go-ahead shot by Nick Jones in the final seconds, giving Le Moyne its third straight loss, 79–78. Redshirt junior guard Trent Mosquera led the Dolphins with 20 points on 8-13 shooting from the field while adding three assists and two rebounds. Sophomore guard Jakai Sanders contributed 13 points, a team-high six assists, and two steals. Junior guard/forward Tennessee Rainwater also had 13 points while adding five rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes off of the bench. Sophomore guard Jakob Blakley and sophomore forward Isaac Nyakundi each scored seven points, while freshman guard Eli Greenberg also had seven points while adding two rebounds, two assists and a team-high three steals in the loss. 
 
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 Saint Francis are meeting for the 11th time. The Red Flash hold a 6-4 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1948-49 season. The Dolphins won both games as NEC foes during the 2023-24 campaign, while Saint Francis won both meetings last year. The Dolphins took their most recent meeting earlier this season, an 84-58 road victory in the NEC opener. 
 
COMMON OPPONENTS
The Dolphins and Red Flash each played Xavier University during non-conference action. Le Moyne fell to Xavier on November 6, 74-69, while the Red Flash fell to Musketeers on December 1, 96-74.
In conference play, both teams have defeated NEC foes Chicago State, Wagner and FDU, while Le Moyne has defeated New Haven, LIU and lost to Mercyhurst, CCSU and Stonehill, and the Red Flash have defeated Stonehill and lost to New Haven, LIU, Mercyhurst and CCSU. 
 
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 four players earn Northeast Conference weekly Prime Performer honors.
Trent Mosquera – 11/10, 12/1, 12/8, 1/21, 1/27                          Jakai Sanders – 11/17, 12/22
Shilo Jackson – 11/24, 12/1, 12/8, 12/30, 1/6, 1/12, 1/21         Tennessee Rainwater – 1/27
 
NET RANKINGS
Through games on February 5, Le Moyne is 278th in the latest NCAA NET rankings, second among NEC members, while Saint Francis is ranked 352nd, which is the lowest ranking among NEC members.
 
DOLPHINS IN THE NEC STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Shilo Jackson leads the NEC in field goal percentage (.656) (tied for 9th nationally, but Le Moyne student-athletes don't qualify for national rankings during the institution's transition period), offensive rebounding (2.8) (81st nationally), and double-doubles (8) (tied for 31st nationally). He is second in blocks (1.7) (57th nationally), third in rebounding (8.3) (60th nationally), fourth in defensive rebounding (5.5) (82nd nationally), sixth in made free throws (74), seventh in scoring (14.8), ninth in free throw percentage (.725) and 21st in assists (2.2). Trent Mosquera is second in the NEC with a 37.0 three-point percentage (96th nationally), third in three-pointers per game (2.5), sixth in defensive rebounding (4.9), seventh in steals (1.5), eighth in scoring (14.6) and blocks (0.8), 10th in minutes (32.0), 11th in rebounding (5.7), and 22nd in assists (2.2). Deng Garang is 13th in blocks (0.7), 20th in three pointers (1.3), 24th in steals (0.9), and 25th in minutes (28.9). Jakai Sanders is second in assists per game (4.3), third in made free throws (88) and assist/turnover ratio (1.8), eighth in free throw percentage (.733) and 15th in minutes (30.5).
 
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 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 SAINT FRANCIS
The Red Flash are led by first-year head coach Luke McConnell. He was elevated to head coach after serving the 2024-25 season as the associate head coach. Saint Francis is 6-16 overall, including 4-5 in NEC play, under his direction. McConnell came to the program in 2013 as the Director of Basketball Operations, and was elevated to assistant coach in 2021.
 
Saint Francis returned seven players, only two of whom played double-digit games last year (Chris Moncrief and Victor Payne), from its 2024-25 team that went 16-18 overall, 8-8 in NEC play and won the NEC Championship, while adding five freshmen and six transfers.
 
The Red Flash went 2-11 in non-conference action and has gone 4-5 to open NEC play. 
 
Redshirt senior guard Skylar Wicks scored a team-high 24 points in an 85-82 win over FDU earlier this year, while adding a team-high six rebounds and three assists. Wicks leads the team in scoring this season at 17.3 points per game, which ranks second best in the NEC overall. He also leads the team in rebounding at 7.3 per game. 
 
Redshirt senior guard Zion Russell had a team-high 12 points in their loss to the Dolphins earlier this year, while adding a team-best five assists and three steals. Russell is second on the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game, while his 2.8 assists per game is tied with Wicks for best on the squad. Sophomore guard Victor Payne added 11 points, five rebounds, two steals and a block in the loss. 
 
Wicks led the team with 21 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season in Saint Francis' home win over Chicago State on Jan 23, 81-60. Russell recorded 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, while adding three assists and a steal. Senior guard Chris Moncrief scored 18 points on 7-9 shooting from the field, while adding four rebounds. Senior guard Ahmad Harrison had a team-high and season-high eight assists, while adding 8 points, a team-high four steals and three rebounds. Harrison is shooting 40.6% from three-point range this season on 3.1 attempts per game. 
 
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
The Dolphins return to Ted Grant Court to take on Saint Francis University on Saturday at 1:00 pm.