Syracuse, N.Y. – Graduate student guard Kaiyem Cleary (Manchester, England/Redemption Christian Academy (NY)/Florida Southern/Florida Southwestern/Ball State) went off for a program-record 43 points to lead the Le Moyne College men’s basketball team to an 87-74 victory over Long Island University on Saturday afternoon in Northeast Conference action at Ted Grant Court.
Richard Kenyon set the previous record of 41 points against Saint Joseph’s during the 1954-55 season and then Philip Harlow tied the mark against Clarkson during the 1970-71 campaign. Cleary’s 43 points are the most by any player in Division I this season in regulation and the third-most overall (Denver’s Tommy Bruner had 49 (35 in regulation) and South Dakota’s Kaleb Stewart had 44 (23 in regulation) against each other on Thursday night in double overtime). His total is the highest by an NEC player since Syracuse-native Charles Pride had 44 for Bryant on February 3, 2022, against Saint Francis and is tied for the 12th-most on the NEC single-game scoring list. Cleary connected on 14-of-25 shot attempts, including a career-best 6-of-10 from 3-point range, while going a career-best 9-for-9 from the foul line. He netted 18 of his points in the first half and followed with 25 (a total that in itself would be his career high for a game) in the second half. Cleary’s 14 made field goals are tied for the sixth-most in a game in the program’s history and are the most since C.J. Asuncion-Byrd had 15 on March 6, 2019, in the NE10 semifinals against Merrimack. He is the second Dolphin this year to go 9-of-9 from the foul line in a game after graduate student forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) did so in the program’s first win over a DI team as a DI program at CSUN on November 21. Cleary also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
Sutherland finished the contest with 16 points for his third straight game in double digits, while adding five…
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