SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts The American International College men's basketball team dropped their home finale, 89-81, to Le Moyne College in Northeast-10 Conference play on Wednesday, February 19.

FAST FACTS:
Final Score:Le Moyne 89, AIC 81
Record:AIC falls to 8-18 (5-12 NE10), while Le Moyne improves to 19-7 (15-3 NE10)
Location:Butova Gymnasium Springfield, Massachusetts

STAT LEADERS:
AIC:
Jordan Vidal: 19 points, three rebounds
Logan Santiago: 14 points, seven rebounds, three assists
Zekiah Owens: 15 points, six rebounds
Goree Venable-Gonzalez: 11 points, six rebounds

Le Moyne:
Nino Hernandez: 20 points, six rebounds
Tom Brown: 13 points, eight rebounds
Zay Jennings: 12 points, seven rebounds

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Both teams opened up the game with defensive stops. Senior Zekiah Owens scored the first basket of the night on the Yellow Jackets' second possession.
• With 11:37 to go in the first half, senior Goree Venable-Gonzalez helped lift AIC to a 17-12 advantage. Venable-Gonzalez grabbed two offensive rebounds with four second-chance points in a two-minute span.
• Following the 17-12 AIC lead, Le Moyne went on a 12-3 run to take a 24-20 advantage over the Yellow Jackets.
• Junior Jordan Vidal and junior Xion Golding both knocked down a pair of jumpers to tie the game at 24 with 7:16 remaining in the first half.
• Le Moyne closed out the remaining seven minutes by knocking down four three-pointers to take a 45-31 lead at the half.
• In the opening 4:28 of the second half, the Yellow Jackets went on a 13-7 run. Vidal scored four points and assisted on a clever pocket pass to junior Shyheim Hicks driving to the hole for a layup during the run.
• On the next two Le Moyne possessions, Zay Jennings knocked down three free throws and then buried a three-pointer to lead AIC 54-46 with 14:14 remaining in the second half.
• The Dolphins continued to add on to their lead, scoring nine unanswered in a 1:22 span to go up 18 with 11 minutes to play.
• Owens responded with a made layup from senior Logan Santiago. The layup sparked an 8-2 run to tighten the gap to 12. Santiago buried a three and Venable-Gonzalez converted on another second-chance basket during the run.
• At the 5:49 mark, Santiago helped cut the Le Moyne lead down to just nine points after knocking down his third three-pointer of the night.
• A few costly turnovers from the Yellow Jackets resulted into seven points for Le Moyne as they led 81-65 with 2:45 to play.
• The 16-point advantage was too much for AIC to overcome. The Yellow Jackets were able to bring the lead down to seven after another three from Santiago with 40 seconds remaining. Vidal cut it down to six after knocking down a jumper with 13 seconds to go, but the Dolphins swam away with the victory by a score of 89-81.

UP NEXT:

• The Yellow Jackets travel to New York to take on Pace University on Saturday, February 22 at 3:30 P.M.

STAY CONNECTED:

• For more updates on the men's basketball team, follow@AIC_MBBonTwitterandInstagram. For updates on all AIC Yellow Jackets teams, follow@AICAthleticsonTwitterandInstagram, and likeAIC Yellow JacketsonFacebook.