The history of Le Moyne Dolphins men's basketball from 1948 to 1958 begins with the inception of the men's varsity basketball program at Le Moyne College. Le Moyne had seven winning seasons and only two losing seasons during their first 10 years. They participated in a postseason tournament, the Utica Optimist Club Invitational, in only their second season. The Dolphins won the Utica tournament three times: in 1950, 1951 and 1952. Le Moyne participated in the National Catholic Invitational Tournament twice, finishing third in 1951, and reaching the quarterfinals in 1952. Although the Dolphins were classified as a small college program by the Associated Press until 1956, when the school became an NCAA College Division member, Le Moyne played 74 games against major/University Division programs during their initial 10 years, going 25–49. The Dolphins were led by head coach Tommy Niland, who mentored the team for its first 25 years. Their team captain for the first three seasons, Don Savage went on to play in the NBA.
Birth of a program (1948–1950) The Dolphins' first varsity basketball game was a home game at the State Fair Coliseum against Siena on December 7, 1948, a 41–39 loss for Le Moyne. Trailing by eight points with seven minutes remaining in the first half, Le Moyne went on a 21–6 run to claim a seven-point lead at the break. The Dolphins came out cold in the second half, scoring just a single basket in the first 16 minutes, and surrendered the lead. Le Moyne bounced back to tie the game in the final minute, but a buzzer-beating set shot by Roy Peters gave the Indians the victory in front of a crowd of 1,929 fans. Don Savage scored 15 points to lead the Dolphins. The opening game against Siena had been treated by Le Moyne's student body as not simply the debut of the Dolphins as a basketball team but as the first game of what was expected to become a heated rivalry. In anticipation of the game, "BEAT SIENA!" was emblazoned across the front page of the school newspaper. A pep rally was held the night before the Siena game and attended by the team, the head coach, the athletics moderator, Rev. Vincent B. Ryan, S.J., and, of course, the cheerleaders.
Le Moyne's first head coach and athletic director was Tommy Niland, who mentored the varsity basketball team for 25 years, until 1973. Niland remained at Le Moyne after his coaching career ended, continuing in his role as the athletic director until his retirement in 1990. Le Moyne's athletics center is named in his honor.
Le Moyne's first victory came on the road at the Geneva Armory against Hobart on December 10, 1948. Dave Lozo scored three early baskets to give Le Moyne a lead they never relinquished. Coach Niland pulled the Dolphins' starters off the floor midway through the second half with a 22-point lead. Lozo finished the game with 13 points, and team captain Don Savage added 11, as Le Moyne cruised to a 50–37 victory.
During the first three years of its varsity basketball program, Le Moyne was led on the court by Don Savage. Savage had appeared in Le Moyne College's first ever intercollegiate contest on December 4, 1947, a 62–57 overtime victory for the freshman basketball team at Utica. More than 400 Le Moyne students made the trip to see the game. Savage had eight points in that game, while Dave Lozo had a game-high 18 for the Dolphin Cubs. Joe Boehm served as captain of that freshman team, which went 16–4 and was coached by Tommy Niland in an effort to build the basketball program from the ground up. Niland pulled double duty, serving as coach of both the varsity and freshman teams through the end of the 1949–50 season.
A crowd of 2,500 fans witnessed the Le Moyne freshman team's home debut in the nightcap of a doubleheader at the West Jefferson Street Armory on December 18, 1947, a 49–42 victory over La Salle Military Academy that improved their record to 4–0. Dave Lozo scored 18 points for the Dolphin Cubs. Christian Brothers Academy beat Utica Catholic Academy, 45–33, in the opening game of that night's twin bill.
The challenge faced by Le Moyne during its inaugural varsity season was unique. The Dolphins were not simply a first-year basketball team; Le Moyne College was a second-year institution. Therefore, the Dolphins were composed entirely of sophomores and faced teams with experienced juniors and seniors in every game.
Le Moyne's first varsity home victory came on January 7, 1949, over King's by a score of 70–59. The Dolphins were led by Don Savage and Dave Lozo, who each scored 21 points. Le Moyne improved to 3–3 with the win.
Dave Lozo had the highest scoring game by a Le Moyne player during the 1948–49 season, putting up 27 points on January 15, 1949, against Saint Francis (PA) at the Jaffa Mosque in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The Dolphins fell in overtime, 86–80.
More than halfway through their inaugural season, a 53–31 loss at Siena on January 29, 1949, left the Dolphins with a 4–6 record in collegiate contests. A 70–40 home victory over McMaster on February 5, proved to be a turning point, sparking a five-game winning streak.
The second game of the Dolphins' five-game winning streak was an 86–20 victory at Geneseo State on February 11, 1949. The 66-point margin of victory set a program record that would stand until 2005. Don Savage led the Dolphins, who built a 41–8 halftime lead, with 23 points, three more points than Geneseo State's entire output.
After losing on a neutral floor to Brockport in overtime in Auburn, New York, the Dolphins won their final two games of the season, both on the road, one of which was against Cobleskill State and later retroactively recast as an exhibition game under the Bevo Francis rule, to make it seven wins in their final eight games and finish 10–7 in collegiate contests and 12–7 overall, a respectable mark for an all-sophomore team.
All five of Le Moyne's starters from the previous season, including captain Don Savage, returned for the 1949–50 campaign. The returnees were joined by sophomores Jim Hand, Mike Scallion and Joe Taylor. The team trained at Grant Junior High School in Syracuse and scrimmaged against both the Syracuse Nationals, featuring future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes, and Canisius, Tommy Niland's alma mater, to prepare for the season.
Don Savage scored 40 points, 20 in each half, on 16-for-29 shooting from the floor on December 16, 1949, in a 78–68 loss to St. Francis (NY). The point total was a new high for a Le Moyne player as well as the most points ever scored by any player in a college or professional game at the State Fair Coliseum. The Terriers used a 10–0 run over the first two minutes of the second half to open up a 13-point lead, and the Dolphins were unable to get closer than five points down the rest of the way. Le Moyne fell to 1–4 on the season with the loss.
The Dolphins entered their February 18, 1950 home-season finale with a 4–11 record (4–10 in collegiate contests, since one loss came at the hands of the New York Athletic Club, which, in 1953, was retroactively erased by the Bevo Francis rule) and had suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss at home to rival Siena three days earlier in a game that went to an extra session after Le Moyne's Don Miller missed two free throws with six seconds remaining in regulation that could have sealed a Dolphins victory. The setting was less than ideal for the Dolphins to accomplish something remarkable. Nevertheless, Dave Lozo, the smallest player on the floor at 5'8", exploded for 34 points and led Le Moyne, which overcame a tremendous height disadvantage, to a 78–67 triumph over John Carroll, the Dolphins' first ever win over a major program. Miller redeemed himself after the missed free throws in the Siena game; he entered the game midway through the first half and began guarding 6'8" Bob Roper, who already had 13 points. Roper scored only one point the rest of the game. After the teams played to a 37–37 deadlock in the first half, Le Moyne's defense slowed down the Blue Streaks, holding them without a field goal for the first nine minutes of the second half, and the Dolphins built a 64–50 lead. Le Moyne's advantage swelled to 17 points at 77–60, but Carroll cut the deficit, holding Le Moyne to only one point in the final three minutes as four Dolphins fouled out. However, the Blue Streaks got no closer than 10 points down.
Despite a record of 6–11 in collegiate contests, Le Moyne was invited to a four-team post-season tournament sponsored by the Utica Optimist Club staged at the Utica Free Academy gymnasium. After accepting the tournament bid, the Dolphins played three more road games, winning two of them, to finish the regular season 8–12.
In the tournament semifinal, the Dolphins avenged a loss they suffered in January by beating Brockport, 67–60, on March 15. Don Savage led Le Moyne with 25 points. The following night, Le Moyne found themselves in a tight contest, clinging to a 57–55 lead over Utica, who were playing on their home court. Savage was fouled with about a minute remaining and sank both free throws to extend the Dolphins' lead to four points. Utica scored the game's final basket, but the Dolphins held on for a 59–57 victory and took the tournament title. Savage scored 26 points in the final and claimed the tournament's outstanding player award. The win was the Dolphins' sixth in their final eight games, giving them a 10–12 record in collegiate contests.
First national postseason appearances (1950–1952) In June 1950, Le Moyne became a charter member of the Eastern Catholic Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (ECIAC). Earlier in 1950, Le Moyne had declined an invitation to join the conference during its initial formation stage. The major concern was the expected difficulty in scheduling home games, since Le Moyne was sharing the State Fair Coliseum with both the Syracuse Nationals and the Syracuse Orangemen. The ECIAC did not schedule conference games for its members. Instead, teams were expected to schedule at least five conference games in order to be eligible for the league championship, which would be determined by winning percentage in conference games. The Dolphins scheduled seven conference matchups for the 1950–51 season, five of which were road games. Shortly before the start of the season, one more home game and one more road game were added to the conference schedule. Before play began, Scranton and Saint Michael's had left the conference. This made Le Moyne's scheduled game against Scranton a non-conference tilt. ECIAC members later agreed that only one designated game against each conference opponent would count in the league standings. Since Le Moyne had two games scheduled against each of King's, Siena and Saint Peter's, three more games were removed from their league schedule, reducing the conference slate to five games. After only one season, the ECIAC ceased publicizing itself as a conference and became an association of its member schools with no basketball champion crowned, leaving Le Moyne an independent again for 1951–52.
The 1950–51 season marked the first time Le Moyne fielded a team that included seniors, and the squad was led by captain Don Savage. Four sophomores were added to the team: Billy Jenkins, Bill Clancy, Tony Donardo and Fred Sheridan, and Jenkins was expected to start. Despite efforts to prepare the team, including scheduling preseason scrimmages against Dolph Schayes and the Nationals, Le Moyne got off to a terrible start, losing their first five games (one of which was against the New York Athletic Club which in 1953, was retroactively erased as a collegiate contest by the Bevo Francis rule) and six of their first seven, all of which were on the road.