Northridge, Calif. – Graduate student forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) scored a season-high 24 points to lead the Le Moyne College men's basketball team to an 80-70 victory over CSUN on Tuesday night at Premier America Credit Union Arena for the program's first victory over a Division I program as a Division I program.

Sutherland registered 14 of his points in the first half and finished the game going 9-of-9 from the foul line, while grabbing five rebounds. He is the first Dolphin to make nine free throws without a miss since Malik Garner '19 went 10-of-10 on November 23, 2018 against the University of Pittsburg-Johnstown. Graduate student guard Kaiyem Cleary (Manchester, England/Redemption Christian Academy (NY)/Florida Southern/Florida Southwestern/Ball State) recorded 14 points and pulled down five rebounds in 18 foul-plagued minutes. Graduate student guard Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) turned in 12 points, four rebounds and three steals. Graduate student guard Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) dished out nine assists (tied for his most as a Dolphin), scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds and posted three steals. Graduate student guard Isaiah Salter (Charlotte, N.C./Central Cabarrus/American International/Adelphi) connected on a trio of three-pointers in the first half. The Dolphins, who started five graduate students for the first time in the program's history, went 31-of-34 from the foul line, including 23-of-25 in the second half. The 31 makes are tied with the aforementioned November 23, 2018 game against Pitt-Johnstown for the most by a Dolphin team over the last 25 seasons.

Dionte Bostick and De'Sean Allen-Eikens each scored 20 points to lead the Matadors, while Allen-Eikens grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Keonte Jones and Jasman Sangha each tallied 10 points, including eight apiece in the second half, with Jones adding seven rebounds and three steals.

"It's a fun night for sure," said head coach Nate Champion '14. "I thought our guys battled, like we played so hard for 40 minutes. It was awesome to see. We asked some guys to play a lot of minutes and they responded really well. Luke  Sutherland gave us an unbelievable night, he was so big for us and even guys like Ocypher (Owens) and Darrick (Jones Jr.) when they came in the game in the second half gave us a spark and you know Ocypher with four big blocks in the second half, which came in a crucial moment and then, a lot of credit to our guys to switch into that two-three zone and rebounding out of it. You know obviously zone it's always tough to rebound out of, but we did a great job on the glass. I know late they got some offensive rebounds, which I think is why they were plus-seven. But, I thought we battled in the interior even though we knew their whole game is to play in the pain. They only average four threes a game, so for us, we just knew we had to battle and we had to continue to work. We knew they were going to score some in the paint, we were gonna give that up but we had to figure out ways to help limit offensive rebounds and I thought for the most part we did."
 
The Dolphins opened the game with 11 of the first 15 points. After CSUN scored first, Salter put the team in front with a three-pointer from the left corner to beat the shot clock. The next possession, McClure drilled a three-pointer from the right corner and Sutherland followed with a floater in the paint for an 8-4 lead. Out of the first media timeout of the game, Sutherland buried a three-pointer from the right wing for the 11-4 lead.

CSUN answered with 11 of the next 12 points to take a three-point lead. Bostick hit a three-pointer and a lay-up around a McClure free throw and then followed with a jumper in the paint. Allen-Eikens gave the Matadors the lead with a jumper in the paint and then Sangha converted a lay-up.

The Dolphins regained the lead with 12 straight points and 19 of the next 21. DePersia started the run with a pull-up jumper, Cleary made two free throws after getting his jersey grabbed from behind on a breakaway, Cleary drained a three-pointer, Salter buried a three-pointer from the right wing in transition and then Sutherland had a fast-break dunk for a nine-point lead. After Bostick scored in the paint to snap the run, Sutherland made a lay-up out of the under-8 media timeout and then followed with two free throws on the next possession after grabbing an offensive rebound. Two possessions later, Salter drained a fast-break three-pointer from the right corner for a 31-17 lead with 6:07 to go.

The Matadors countered with 10 consecutive points to pull within four. Bostick scored twice in the paint, while Jared Barnett, Allen-Eikens and Dearon Tucker also scored in the paint in the streak.

Le Moyne responded with six straight points to regain its 10-point lead before the Matadors scored the final basket of the half to make it 37-29 at the intermission. Sutherland connected on a three-pointer from the right wing and then McClure converted three foul shots. Allen-Eikens made a lay-up with four second left to end the half's scoring.

The Dolphins opened the second half with a 13-7 run to take a 14-point lead again. After Bostick got the scoring started for the Matadors with a three-pointer, Sutherland made five free throws around a baseline jumper from Cleary and a lay-up from Jones, and then McClure drained a three-pointer from the right wing and Cleary buried a three-pointer from the right corner around a lay-up by Tucker for a 50-36 lead with 17:28 to play.

After each team scored in the paint, CSUN answered with nine of the next 11 points to get within seven. Allen-Eikens made a jumper, Sangha followed with a lay-up and then Allen-Eikens recorded a conventional three-point play.

Following a lay-up by McClure to push Le Moyne's lead to 56-47 with 13:19 to go, the Matadors scored six straight to close within three. Sangha made two free throws, Jared Brinson knocked down a jumper and then Jones had a dunk to make it 56-53 with 11:09 remaining.

After the teams traded points over the next three minutes, resulting in a 63-59 Le Moyne lead, the Dolphins rattled off eight consecutive points to regain a double-digit lead. Cleary made two free throws, Jones Jr. converted three foul shots and then Sutherland drilled his third three-pointer of the contest for a 71-59 advantage with 5:02 to play.

Sutherland's three-pointer marked the team's final field goal of the game, but the Dolphins went 9-of-10 from the foul line over the final 3:42 to close out the victory. DePersia was 6-of-6 in the stretch, while senior guard Darrick Jones Jr. (Richmond, Va./Oak Hill Academy/Towson) made the other three.

Le Moyne (2-4) closes out its four-game, eight-day California slate on Friday at the University of the Pacific at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET. The game also is Le Moyne's second, and final, game in the Golden State Hoops Jam.

Additional quotes from Nate Champion '14
"We were 31 for 34 from the free throw line. Although we didn't shoot 32 of our 50 shots from three there's obviously 34 attempts at the line. I think that evens that out, but I thought our guys just did a good job of sticking with it. You know, we've struggled from the free throw line and we know we're a much better team from the line than that and we showed that tonight. Guys really just stepping up and knocking shots down. But other than that, I mean, just, we really battled and that was a test. We have to be able to put 40 minutes of just playing extremely hard together and we know it's not going to be perfect right now. That's the goal for January and we've got to get to that point. But right now, it's just the process that we're going through. We have to play as best as we can every time out and we have to continue to get better. Like I don't think our best right now is going to be our best in January and February when we're in conference season. But we have to continue to work, continue to play hard and just continue to be eager to learn and get better from our mistakes. You know so great job tonight from our guys and you know really looking forward to this trip up to San Francisco."

On the poise of the team…
"I think that's just us being an older group, right like the youngest kid we play was Trent Mosquera, who is a sophomore. But even him, like he went to prep school, reclassed you know, so he's older as well. I think even though he didn't score, but still gave us some good stuff, good minutes, and he's gonna continue to get better as we continue on. But just the maturity of the group I felt like we handled the situation better, we handled ourselves when people you know went on runs and guys were starting to make some shots like Bostick, you know, obviously had a really good night tonight, a tough player, but when he started making shots I thought we did a good job of switching up the defense and kind of keeping them off balance.

On Ocypher Owens and Darrick Jones Jr. coming off the bench…
"I thought they responded well, obviously, you know those guys are usually playing a lot more minutes, but they didn't tonight, but I thought when they did get their opportunity to play there they made the most of that opportunity to play well. So, you know, it's a credit to them. We kept talking about, you know, you're gonna get a chance to play and you have to continue to be ready because even though you're gonna get limited minutes, they're gonna be big minutes and they responded well to that."

Quotes from graduate student forward Luke Sutherland
On where he thinks he is in his game currently…
"Coach Champ is really good at instilling confidence in us and I think that was kind of the biggest thing, we knew going into this game it's hard to win, especially against opponents like these. I knew that this was one of those games where you just have to give everything you've got. It was really exciting to get the result that we had! Just in terms of my game, I'm just out there playing. I'm not really thinking too much, I'm just trying to have fun."
 
On what's it like to be part of this monumental historic win for the program…
"I was so happy and to see Coach Champ and be able to go through that with him. It was just a lot of fun. I think I've had a smile on my face the last 30 minutes. It's definitely been one of the more exciting things and it's just like anything with this process and especially with the school being in Syracuse. I mean, this is really like a dream come true. And it's been a lot of fun."

On his teammates…
"I think as you said I think it's so important, so many guys coming into the game impacting it. We are a really connected group and it really is a team effort. There's a lot of things that don't always show up on the stat sheet but a lot of guys do really well and get us in a position to win games and it just, like I said, it's no individual ever with this team, especially in a night like tonight. It was just a lot of fun. I'm excited to watch this back because this is, as you said, it's one of the first we meshed and clicked and got a win."

On how good the team can get…
"I think, and as you said these previous teams we played, I mean Santa Barbara, the first half, we were right with them and then come out in the second half, we came out a little slow. Same thing with U San Diego, we were right in the game and then second half we came out a little slow. We started on a 10-0 run and then we just kind of fell from there. Every single game, getting piece by piece and I really do think we're getting better every single game and it's just learning from these games and today, I feel like we pieced together two halves and as we go forward we need to continue to do that and just trust what we're doing. And like I said, I have been saying it since the beginning, I think we're gonna be a lot better than a lot of people think and I'm really excited to see this team go."