Box Score
Syracuse, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's basketball team put themselves in position to clinch the top spot in the Northeast-10 Conference with a 65-61 win over Le Moyne College at Ted Grant Court on Saturday. The Panthers, now 19-6 overall and 16-5 in the NE-10, hold a one game lead over Franklin Pierce in the NE-10 standings, and have a chance to secure the top spot with a win in Tuesday's final regular season game against Southern Connecticut. With the loss, the Dolphins drop to 11-14 overall and 7-14 in league play.

Junior Bradley Simpson paced the Adelphi offense with 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Chris Ranglin and Robert Johnson each scored 14 points, and John Calarco poured in 12 points off the bench to round out the list of Panthers in double figures. Richard Harkins connected on just one 3-pointer on the day but dished out 10 assists to help lead Adelphi to victory.

For Le Moyne, Nate Champion scored 18 points and was near-perfect in all aspects of shooting, making 5-7 shots from the floor, connecting on both 3-pointers and going 6-for-7 from the foul line. Brian Zapisek and Jim Janson each nabbed 11 points, while Zapisek tied Champion for the team-high in rebounding with six boards.

In a game that saw 17 lead changes, neither squad led by more than eight points at any given time. After a back-and-forth affair in the opening minutes, Adelphi worked its biggest lead of the half with a four point advantage (16-12) at the 12:25 mark on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Johnson. A quick 5-0 burst by the Dolphins minutes later gave the hosts a six point advantage late in the half, but a layup by Duane Morgan cut the deficit to four as Adelphi headed into the locker room trailing 32-28.

Adelphi used a 6-0 run early in the second half to jump back into the driver's seat, but an eight point lead midway through the half gave way to a Le Moyne surge that knotted the game at 56-all with 3:44 to play. A jumper by Champion swung the lead to the Dolphins briefly, but Ranglin swished a third-opportunity shot after a long half-court set and two offensive rebounds to tie the game again at 58-58. Ranglin then added a steal and layup on the next possession to put the Panthers up by a pair.

Le Moyne regrouped, exited a timeout and quickly got the ball to Zapisek, who buried a 3-pointer that put the Dolphins in front by one with 1:30 to play. Ranglin had an answer yet again, however, and knocked down what would prove to be the game-winning trey on the following possession. With Adelphi clinging to a 63-61 lead, Johnson snagged a timely steal with eight seconds to play, then drained both free throws after being fouled to ice the contest.

The Panthers will look to finish the regular season atop the NE-10 standings when they host Southern Connecticut on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Watch the game live via www.aupanthers.tv or catch live Twitter updates by following the official Adelphi Athletics Twitter feed (@AUPanthers).