Syracuse, NY – The Le Moyne College men’s basketball team had five players score in double figures en route to an 83-77 win over NEC-leading LIU on Monday afternoon in conference action on the Ted Grant Court at the Donald J. Savage ’51 Basketball Arena.
Graduate student forward Shiloh Jackson (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central/Vincennes/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) led the Dolphins offensively with 21 points, including 12 in the first half, on 7-of-7 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 from the foul line while adding a highly balanced game, seven rebounds and two assists in playing all 40 minutes. Redshirt junior guard Trento Mosque (Boston, Mass. / Belmont Hill School) scored 19 points, including 11 in the first half, with four rebounds and two blocks. A sophomore ranger Jakai Sanders (Brooklyn, NY/Eagle Academy) scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half while dishing out five assists and four rebounds in the game. Redshirt sophomore guard Teng Garang (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) had 11 points and five rebounds as a junior guard Rainwater in Tennessee (Davenport, Washington/Davenport/Utah Tech) scored 11 points, including a career-high eight from the foul line on 10 attempts.
Malachi Davis led the Sharks in the upset with 24 points, including 13 in the first half, while adding four rebounds and three assists. Jamal Fuller scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, including 12 in the final seven minutes of the contest. Jomo Goings and Greg Gordon each scored 10 points, while Gordan added seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
The teams traded baskets in the first two minutes before LIU used an 8-2 spurt to take its biggest lead of the game. Davis led the offense with a steal dunk and a three-pointer.
Garang scored five straight points to tie the score and Rainwater followed with the first two free throws to take the lead with 12:55 left.
After the teams were tied at 14, 16 and 18, Mosquera put the Dolphins ahead with a four-point play and then a guard for the freshman. Eli Greenberg (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) hit a jumper and Jackson made two foul shots for a 26-20 lead with 7:06 left.
The Sharks answered with six more points, two each from three players to tie the score at 26 and then Rainwater and Davis traded points to tie the score for the seventh and final time at 28 with 4:40 left.
Le Moyne took the lead for good with another six points, two apiece from Jackson, Mosquera and Rainwater.
The Sharks got within three with 1:09 left on a layup by Caleb Johnson, but Jackson made two free throws and Sanders made one to give the Dolphins a 40-34 halftime lead.
After back-and-forth during the opening two and a half minutes of the second half, which saw Le Moyne’s lead hover between four and eight points, Gordon made a layup and Goings hit a 3-pointer to put the Sharks within 47-45 with 16:00 left.
The back-and-forth game continued for the next four minutes as Le Moyne’s lead fluctuated between one and four points and was 54-53 at the under-12 media timeout with 11:54 remaining.
After Davis missed a free throw to complete a three-point play out of timeout, the Dolphins ran off 12 straight points to take their biggest lead of the game, 66-53, with 7:55 left. Rainwater and Garang drained 3-pointers to force an LIU timeout, Jackson made a layup, Sanders drilled a 3-pointer and Rainwater capped the streak with a free throw.
LIU answered with nine of the next 10 points to cut its deficit to five with 4:45 remaining. Fuller started the drive with a quick 3-pointer, Gordon made a conventional 3-point play and then Fuller nailed another 3-pointer.
Le Moyne pushed its lead back to double digits with nine of the next 11 points. Mosquera buried a pull-up 3-pointer, Jackson slid in a feed from Sanders, who then made two free throws to make it a 76-64 layup with 2:26 left.
Another 3-pointer by Fuller started a 7-0 Sharks spurt to pull within five, 76-71, with 1:02 left. Goings followed with a layup steal and then Fuller dunked.
The Dolphins went 3 of 4 from the foul line around a Fuller free throw before Sanders put away a steal for an 81-72 lead with 19 seconds left.
Davis made a three-pointer and layup around a Garang free throw to make it 82-77 with seven seconds left, but Sanders finished the game’s scoring with a free throw with six seconds left.
Le Moyne (9-10, 4-2 NEC), which improved to 3-0 in three years in the NEC at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day, remains home to Wagner College on Friday at 7 p.m.
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