RELEASE DATE: 11/15/07

Game Statistics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mansfield rallies in second half to beat Le Moyne 78-76 in season opener

MANSFIELD – Senior Kevin Hill hit a 3-pointer with :31 seconds left capping off a torrid second half rally and lifting Mansfield to a 78-76 win over Le Moyne in the season opener for both teams Thursday evening in Decker Gymnasium.

“We’ll take it,” said a relieved head coach Rich Miller after the game. “We just played a lot better the second half, putting the ball on the floor and going to the basket. I honestly think we may have worn them down a little with our rotation.”

Mansfield trailed 44-33 at halftime and by as much as 53-39 five minutes into the second half before mounting a slow but steady rally.

The Mountaineers went on a 16-5 run over the next five minutes, with seven of those points coming from Ryan Callahan, to pull to 58-55 at the 9:43 mark.

Le Moyne managed to hold the lead, taking a 72-66 advantage on a lay up by Dan Cromwell with 4:03 left.

Callahan hit a lay up and Dhimitri Luarasi a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 72-71 a minute later before Callahan added two free throws and gave Mansfield its first lead of the game on a twisting lay up taking a 75-74 advantage at the 1:41 mark.

A pair of free throws by Laurence Ekperigin put Le Moyne back on top at 76-75 with 1:19 before Hill drilled his third 3-pointer from deep in the left corner to win the game.

Callahan, playing his first game since transferring from Division I Wagner, led the Mountaineers in scoring with 19 points. Hill added 13 points with Chris Greene scoring 12 and Dhimitri Luarasi adding 10 points.

“Dhimitri did a good job out there for us tonight,” said Miller. “He really worked hard during the off season building himself up physically and that showed in this game.”

Laurence Ekperigin had a double-double with a game high 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead Le Moyne.

Newspaper Box Score

LeMoyne University vs Mansfield University

11-15-07 7:30pm at Decker Gym

At Decker Gym

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY 78, LEMOYNE UNIVERSITY 76

LEMOYNE UNIVERSITY (0-1)

Laurence Ekperigin 9-14 4-6 22; Jonathan Joshua 6-11 2-2 19; Dan Cromwell

6-9 2-2 14; Jason Holmes 5-10 0-4 10; Phil Barnes 2-4 1-2 6; Mark Covin 1-2

1-3 3; Damani Corbin 1-5 0-0 2; Kevin Roth 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-57 10-19 76.

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY (1-0)

CALLAHAN, Ryan 4-12 7-10 16; HILL, Kevin 5-11 0-0 13; GREENE, Chris 3-3 6-7

12; LUARASI, Dhimitri 4-7 0-0 10; BOONE, Cory 2-4 2-2 6; LAWLEY, Brandon 3-6

0-0 6; CARR, Yuseff 2-5 1-2 5; HAMPTON, John 2-5 0-0 5; CORNELL, Seth 1-2

0-0 3; OWENS, Lavail 1-5 0-0 2; PENDER, Chris 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-61 16-21

78.

LeMoyne University............   44   32  -   76

Mansfield University..........   33   45  -   78

3-point goals-LeMoyne University 6-17 (Jonathan Joshua 5-8; Phil Barnes 1-2;

Jason Holmes 0-3; Mark Covin 0-1; Damani Corbin 0-2; Kevin Roth 0-1),

Mansfield University 8-20 (HILL, Kevin 3-7; LUARASI, Dhimitri 2-2; CALLAHAN,

Ryan 1-4; HAMPTON, John 1-2; CORNELL, Seth 1-2; OWENS, Lavail 0-2; PENDER,

Chris 0-1). Fouled out--LeMoyne University-Jason Holmes; Damani Corbin,

Mansfield University-CARR, Yuseff. Rebounds-LeMoyne University 33 (Laurence

Ekperigin 10), Mansfield University 37 (CALLAHAN, Ryan 7). Assists-LeMoyne

University 19 (Mark Covin 7), Mansfield University 12 (GREENE, Chris 4).

Total fouls-LeMoyne University 25, Mansfield University 21. A-579