NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Southern Connecticut State University men's basketball team fell to Le Moyne, 56-55, on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021 at James Moore Field House. With the loss, the Owls falls to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Northeast 10, while the Dolphins improve to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the NE10.

Lyron Bennett (Boston, Mass.) led the scoring for Southern with 15 points, while also dishing out four assists and recording four steals. Ulyen Coleman (Brockton, Mass.) scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Off the bench, Jamaal Waters (Hartford, Conn.) scored six points and blocked five shots in 17 minutes. 

How It Happened
First Half

• Coleman got the Owls' offense off to a quick start, as he buried a corner three-pointer and made two free throws to give him five of Southern's first 11 points. Le Moyne, though, held a 12-11 lead after after the first five minutes.
• Le Moyne went on a 15-6 that spanned nearly 10 minutes to take their largest lead of the 10, 27-17, with 4:27 remaining.
• Southern battled back in the final minutes, as they outscored Le Moyne 10-4 to go into halftime down 31-27. Bennett scored six points during the run, and Logan Bagshaw (Cumberland, Maine) capped it off by making a corner three-pointer before the buzzer sounded.

Second Half

• Both teams played evenly through the first couple possessions coming out of the locker room, with Le Moyne maintaining a 36-32 lead. 
• Waters ignited Southern's offense with a dunk, then Coleman and Bagshaw scored to give the Owls a two-point lead, 38-26, with 12:49 left. 
• Le Moyne retook the lead at 40-38, and 45-40. Bennett scored on back-to-back possessions to bring Le Moyne's lead back down to one, but the Dolphins upped their lead back up to 52-45 with 4:26 left.
• Leo Chaikin (South Hero, Vt.) made two free throws and Coleman buried a three-pointer to cut the lead to 52-50, but Le Moyne still held the lead in the final 30 seconds at 56-50. 
• Bennett made a three-pointer with 13 seconds left, and a missed Le Moyne free throw on the front-end of a one-and-one gave Southern an opportunity. Le Moyne fouled Coleman, who made two free throws to cut the lead to one. Le Moyne missed another front-end of a one-and-one, but Coleman's full-court heave was off the mark, and Le Moyne held on for the win/

Notes

• Waters recorded a new career-high with four blocked shots, the most since Austin Carter also had seven on Nov. 27, 2016 against Nova Southeastern. 
• Bennett has scored at least 10 points in six consecutive games to begin this season, and in 10 straight games dating back to 2019-2020. 
• Bennett's four steals was one away from tying a career-high. He had five against New York Tech on Feb. 5, 2020. 
• Coleman has also scored at least 10 points in all six games to begin this season.
• Coleman's eight rebounds were a new season-high. 
• Southern has forced at least 20 turnovers in a game three separate times this season for the first time since 2015-2016.  

Up Next
Southern will play The College of Saint Rose on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.