NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Senior Dom LeMorta (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) led the Saxons 92-76 over Ramapo College, scoring 45 points – only one point short of tying the Alfred University men's basketball (24-4, 14-2 Empire 8) program record for points in a single game. The Saxons advance to the second round of the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament for the first time since the 1985-86 season and will play Saturday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. in the Freeman Center.
 
AU moved on to the second round of the NCAA tournament for only the second time in program history behind LeMorta's 45-point performance – setting a record for the most points scored in a single game in the Freeman Center. He was only one point short of tying the all-time AU record (46) set by Edward Mandell '65 against Roberts Wesleyan during the 1964-65 season. LeMorta also fell one three-point field goal short of tying the program record (9), set by Steve Filosa '99 during the 1998-99 season and Tyler Seelman '17 during the 2016-17 season.
 
"The most important thing to me is that we won," LeMorta said. "Forty-five points is great, but the important thing is that we won and we're moving on.
 
Overall, LeMorta now has 990 points in his career and will have an opportunity to reach the 1,000-point mark tomorrow.
 
Other top scorers for the Saxons were first-year Brewster Marshall (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) with 14 points and senior Scotty Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) with 13 points. Stopera completed his night nearing a triple-double with eight assists and six rebounds. The first-year duo of Elliot Bowen (Salamanca, NY/Ellicotville) and Marshall combined for 10 blocks on the evening. Bowen had six blocks while Marshall had four.
 
As a team the Saxons extended their win streak to 14, which is tied for the program record while also moving within one win of tying the program record for wins a season (25) set by the historic 1985-86 team.
 
The Saxons opened the first half of the game on a tear, getting out to a 13-2 lead over the Road Runners. AU extended its lead 25-12 with 12:16 to go in the half. However, Ramapo stormed back into the game going on a 17-2 run to overtake the lead 31-29 with 7:18 left on the clock. For the remainder of the half, the two teams went back-and-forth, trading blows until the foes were deadlocked at 39.
 
With 1:53 left in the opening half, LeMorta caused a turnover and threw down a dunk to put AU up, 41-39. Only seconds later, he hit three-of-three from the free throw line once again increasing the AU advantage. Marshall put the final points on the board for the Saxons, finishing on a threaded pass from Stopera. AU took a 46-42 lead into the intermission. LeMorta had 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting while Stopera led the Saxons with four boards.
 
The Saxons opened the second half on a 14-3 run, putting distance between themselves and the Road Runners, 60-45. Three minutes later, Ramapo came back within six, but was unable to keep up the AU shooters who were firing on all cylinders. The Saxons' largest lead of the night (18) came with 4 minutes left in the game, giving them the chance to coast to the victory, 92-76.
 
LeMorta was 7-of-12 (58.3%) from the field, including 5-of-8 (62.5%) from three-point range in the second half. Overall, he shot 16-of-27 (59.3%) from the field in the game.
 
As a team, AU shot 33-of-68 (48.5%) from the field and 11-of-23 (47.8%) from behind the arc. AU held an advantage in points off turnovers (25-19) while being outdone in points in the paint (44-34), second chance points (9-6) and bench points (19-16).
 
"I think we did a great job defensively," Head Coach Russ Phillips began. "We packed the paint and forced them to shoot some outside shots. Obviously, Dom [LeMorta] was pretty hot early and that got us scoring. I think that was big in a tournament game to settle us down. They did a good job with their 1-2-2, which gave us some trouble. But we made adjustments and were a little more aggressive against it and I think that opened us up in the second half and let us dictate the terms offensively."
 
The Saxons will face the winner of Albertus Magnus and #11 Christopher Newport on Saturday, March 2 at 7PM in the Freeman Center.