December 10, 2009
MBB: EKPERIGIN AND CORBIN REGISTER DOUBLE-DOUBLES IN LE MOYNE’S 76-65 SETBACK AT ST. BONAVENTURE
St. Bonaventure, N.Y. - Senior forward Laurence Ekperigin (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) and graduate student guard Damani Corbin (Brooklyn, N.Y./Frederick Douglass) each registered a double-double, but the Le Moyne College men's basketball team fell to St. Bonaventure, 76-65, on Thursday night at the Reilly Center.
Ekperigin, the reigning Northeast-10 Conference co-player of the week, led all scorers with 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end of the court. Corbin recorded 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Chris Johnson (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) joined Ekperigin and Corbin in double-digits with 12 points. Sophomore Andrew Nicholson, last year's Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Year, led four Bonnies in twin-figures with 18 points. Chris Matthews tallied 16 points, Jonathan Hall registered 12 points and Michael Davenport totaled 10 points and six assists.
The Bonnies opened the game with five straight points en route to jumping out to a 13-6 lead. Nicholson scored the game's opening basket off a Davenport steal and Matthews followed with three consecutive three-pointers to lead the charge.
After the Dolphins pulled to within 15-12 at the 12:20 mark on back-to-back lay-ups by Ekperigin and Johnson, St. Bonaventure used a 20-9 run over the next 7:26 to push out to a half-best 14-point advantage. Nicholson (10) and Malcolm Eleby (4) combined to score the final 14 points of the streak.
Le Moyne closed out the half with an 11-6 edge to get within 41-32 at the intermission. Ekperigin scored seven of the points in the stretch, including the final four on a dunk and a tip-in at the buzzer, while Davenport accounted for all six points for the Bonnies.
A pair of steals to open the second half by Hall sparked a 5-0 spurt to regain a double-digit lead for the Bonnies. Matthews drilled a three-pointer off the first steal and Eleby nailed two free throws off the second steal.
The two squads split the next 12 points before St. Bonaventure scored six straight points to open an 18-point advantage with just under 14 minutes remaining. Davenport tallied four of the final six points in the run after Ekperigin scored four points for the Dolphins.
Corbin scored six straight points and Ekperigin nailed a pair of free throws to get the Dolphins back to within 12 points with just over 10 minutes left in the contest.
After trading baskets over the next 1:15 kept the Dolphins within 12 points, the Bonnies used a final 10-3 push to take a game-high 19-point lead at the 4:03 mark. Ogo Adegboye opened the run with four points and capped it with a lay-up to lead St. Bonaventure.
The Dolphins ended the contest on a 12-4 run to deliver the final score. Ekperigin converted a three-point play and later followed four Corbin points with a lay-up to make the score 76-62. Following two scoreless possessions for the Bonnies, Johnson knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing with seven seconds remaining to round out the game's scoring.
Le Moyne (5-4), which has dropped three of its last four games, returns to action for a non-conference home game against Mansfield on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
-agate-
St.Bonaventure 76, Le Moyne 65
Le Moyne (5-4) 32 33 - 65
St. Bonaventure (5-3) 41 35 - 76
