Coming off a tight loss against Adelphi University, the New Haven men’s basketball team were looking to get back in the win column against the number one team in the Northeast-10 (NE-10) conference; the Saint Michael’s Purple Knights. Coming off back-to-back conference wins, the Chargers were able to stay with the Knights, but were unable to mount a comeback in the second half to erase their deficit.
Saint Michael’s jumped out to an early lead in the opening minutes, scoring the first five points of the game. Forward Davontrey Thomas put the Chargers on the board first with two of his game-high 22 points. New Haven’s defense could not stay with Saint Michael’s third ranked offense in the conference as they took control early with a 12-2 lead in the first six minutes.
The Chargers continued to play from behind until just over halfway through the first half when guard Ethan Simmon knocked down a jumper to tie the game at 14. The two teams continued to exchange scores as the Knights held on to a 22-21 lead with four minutes left after a layup from guard Jah’Likai King. After a missed free-throw by King, Saint Michael’s added to their lead with a 13-7 run to close out the first half, capped off by three-pointers from guards Romar Reid and CJ Crews.
New Haven was faced with an eight-point deficit as they came out for the second half, but the Knights were once again the first to score with a free throw from Reid. The Chargers cut the deficit down to five with a layup from Thomas before the Knights’ offense went on a dominating 12-0 scoring run. Now trailing by 16 with 14 minutes remaining, New Haven could not generate enough pressure or scoring chances to bring themselves back within striking distance.
After a jumper from forward Tyler Saint-Furcy, Saint Michael’s forward TJ Henaghen knocked down a three to put their lead back to 15. Reid and guard Alan Brzezinski added a pair of threes to make it a 59-38 game.
New Haven stormed back in the middle minutes of the second half with a 10-2 scoring run to bring it back to a 13-point deficit. Thomas and King led the Chargers offense in the final minutes of the game but were unable to climb out of the hole they left themselves in as the buzzer sounded, giving the Chargers a 69-59 loss.
King finished the game with 16 points and forward Joshua Hopson also tallied double-digit points for New Haven. The Knights’ ability to shoot from anywhere proved to be too much for the Chargers to handle as they shot 40% from both three-point range and the field.
New Haven will stay local for their next matchup on the road against Southern Connecticut State University at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Coming off two consecutive losses, the Chargers enter the final stretch of the regular season before the NE-10 playoffs with an 8-15 record (5-12 NE-10). More information about upcoming games and the program can be found at NewHavenChargers.com.
