Villanova, Pa. – Justin Moore tallied 21 points to lead #20/22 Villanova University to an 83-57 victory over the Le Moyne College men’s basketball team on Friday night at Finneran Pavilion.
“Well first off, obviously, Villanova took advantage of us with their size and athleticism, especially in the interior in the second half,” said head coach Nate Champion ’14. “I thought they defended the paint really well. I thought we showed a lot of resilience so obviously with 10 minutes left it’s a 14-point game we had some opportunities to really cut into it. I just thought from Tuesday to now I thought we made a drastic change and just our overall mentality and being able to handle this situation with you know, a raucous crowd which was awesome to see tonight but our ability to just be mature in the situation and handle certain things a lot better than we did on Tuesday. So a lot of room for improvement, but I think we’re starting to see some flashes of what exactly this team can be in the future.”
Graduate student forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) tallied 15 points to lead the Dolphins offensively. Graduate student guard Isaiah Salter (Charlotte, N.C./Central Cabarrus/American International/Adelphi) finished with 10 points as the only other Dolphin in double figures. Graduate student guard Kaiyem Cleary (Manchester, England/Redemption Christian Academy (NY)/Florida Southern/Florida Southwestern/Ball State) led the team with six rebounds, while graduate student guard Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) dished out a game-high six assists.
Moore, a former all-BIG EAST Second Team selection, recorded 15 of his game-high point total in the first half. Brendan Hausen came off the bench to knock down six three-pointers in eight attempts en route to 18 points. TJ Bamba, in his second game as a Wildcat after three years at Washington State, turned in 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. Tyler Burton recorded a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds in his second game at Villanova following four years at Richmond, where he finished his career ranked 11th in scoring (1634) and sixth in rebounds (819).
After Villanova started the game’s scoring, the Dolphins scored eight of the next 10 points to take an 8-4 lead. Senior guard Darrick Jones Jr. (Richmond, Va./Oak Hill Academy/Towson) put the Dolphins in front for the first time with a three-pointer and then Sutherland followed with a three-pointer from the left wing and a fast-break lay-up for the four-point edge.
The Wildcats answered back with three-pointers from Mark Armstrong and Burton and a lay-up by Armstrong to go up 12-8 at the first media timeout with 14:19 left.
Le Moyne countered with five straight points and eight of 11 out of the timeout to regain the lead. Cleary recorded a conventional three-point play and then DePersia converted a driving lay-up on the left side. After a three-pointer by Moore, junior forward Ocypher Owens (Orlando, Fla./Orlando Christian Prep/Indian River State) drilled a three-pointer from the left corner for the lead.
After Owens put the Dolphins in front by three on a pair of occasions, the last of which came at 20-17 with 10:40, the Wildcats rattled off 21 of the next 25 points to take a 38-24 advantage with 4:28 remaining. Bamba led the run with eight points, while Hausen drained three-pointers at the beginning and end of the streak, Moore scored five points and Jordan Longino made a lay-up.
Following a three-pointer by Sutherland to get the Dolphins within 40-29 with 3:20 left, the Wildcats scored six straight points for their largest lead of the half.
Salter answered with a lay-up and a three-pointer from the corner to make it 46-34.
Moore put the Wildcats up 48-34 at the half with two free throws with 47 seconds left.
Sutherland and graduate student guard Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) drained three-pointers around a lay-up by Bamba over the opening two and one-half minutes to get the Dolphins within 10 points.
The Wildcats pushed it back to 16 with a three-pointer from Bamba and three free throws from Burton to extend the lead to 56-40 with 16:28 to go.
Following back-and-forth action over the next four minutes, Moore hit a three-pointer and made a lay-up in transition for a 19-point lead with 9:53 remaining.
After the Dolphins called timeout, Salter buried a three-pointer off an offensive rebound and then Jones Jr knocked down a pull-up jumper just inside the three-point line in transition to get the Dolphins within 14 for the final time.
Following a timeout by the Wildcats with 8:42 left, they closed out the game with 17 of the last 22 points. Longino ignited the run with a jumper in the paint and then Hausen accounted for 12 of the points by connecting on four of five three-point attempts, while Hakim Hart also nailed a three-pointer for the team’s first 20-point lead.
Le Moyne (0-2) opens its home schedule on Monday by hosting SUNY Canton at 7:00 p.m. Fans are highly encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance by going to lemoynedolphins.com/tickets
Additional quotes from Nate Champion ’14
On what was the biggest difference between Tuesday and tonight…”Just knowing what Division I basketball is like. I think it was exactly that right. I mean, although we let Tuesday get away from us pretty early, I thought just our ability to handle the situation of being on the court with really talented BIG EAST team and understanding how we can be successful and understanding that we need to really be able to execute what we do at a high level and I thought we did that a lot better tonight than we did on Tuesday.”
On playing two BIG EAST opponents to start the year… “I think just the overall tradition, and I mean, when you think of the BIG EAST, you think basketball, you know, and it’s one of the top conferences in the country and always has been and I think it always will be. Obviously with teams like Villanova and Georgetown and Xavier and teams like that have made deep runs in NCAA Tournaments, you know, the quality of basketball is going to be very high level. So, obviously, the BIG EAST spans many eras and generations and I think it will continue to thrive. But I think it’s a huge for us to be able to compete against two of the storied programs in the BIG EAST. On both Tuesday and Friday to open up our Division I campaign and I just thought it was a lot better performance tonight on our end and it showed what we can do.
On what it means to coach this team… “To begin with, it’s a tremendous honor. I mean, for me, being from Indiana, grew up in a really small town and getting the opportunity to go play at Le Moyne and just understanding what Le Moyne is all about. Being a small Jesuit school, youngest Jesuit school in the country, instill values that make you a better overall person. And I think that runs deep into just the campus community and also the graduates and all the alumni that we had here tonight. I mean, there’s great people, and it’s a family atmosphere at Le Moyne. So when I first got to campus there, obviously I felt that I knew when I got into coaching, I thought it’d be a tremendous honor if I had the opportunity to ever come back. Luckily, I had some success at my previous stops and was able to get myself into that opportunity. And now with the tremendous leadership that President LeMura and Bob Beretta have shown and the boldness to take that step back to Division I, you know, and go with all teams this time, I think just shows what we talked about as a Jesuit school with that you know, the special word being Magis which is a term for always striving for more and optimal that we look for. So overall Le Moyne is a special place and it’s awesome to be able to lead them and put them on the map.”
On playing without Nate Fouts and Jamel Melvin and others eventually playing at their natural positions… “I mean, we asked Luke Sutherland to play out of position the first two games and he started obviously, we had been banged up in the forward spots. We’re getting healthier, which is, you know, encouraging, but what I think it helps us overall just being able to play out of those positions and understand what that position is looking for. And as he (Sutherland) moves back to his natural position, being able to kind of bring that to his forward position as well. And then just overall the depth. I think at this level, you have to have depth at the forward positions. You have to have some size if you want to really compete.”
On what stood out when scouting Villanova… “I mean, one, their discipline, right, everybody is always under control. They do a great job. Obviously, they’re pretty famous for playing off of two feet. But what comes with that is the ability to just be under control and see everything on the floor. Very fundamentally sound team and what really impresses me and they do a tremendous job of this is in the interior, they don’t foul inside and I know it’s a pretty special feat and it’s something that is hard to prepare for because you know you’re going to get some looks but you have to really finish strong inside and be able to finish some contact.”