The battle for the Elm City took place on Wednesday as the team across the street came to North Campus. Southern Connecticut State University came into the contest at 14-8 and looked to take the lead in the southwest division of the NE-10 to break the tie with the Chargers and Le Moyne.

The first half was highly competitive as Southern Connecticut jumped out to an early lead behind the hot hand of senior guard Kealen Ives. The Chargers though begin to catch fire behind junior big man Kessly Felizor. Felizor finished the first half with 16 points and was a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc. The story of the first half appeared to be that the winner would be whoever knocked down more threes.  

The Chargers shot an impressive 8-16 from deep while the Owls only went 5-12. New Haven struggled on the glass though and was out rebounded in the first half which led to their 44-41 deficit at the break. The Owls were led by Ives who had 14 while Felizor led the Chargers with 16. The second half was all New Haven as they came out of the break with a pair of free throws and a three-pointer from junior Elijah Bailey. Despite Southern Connecticut’s best efforts on defense, New Haven seemed to make every shot they took.

Bailey reached the milestone of 1,000 career points. Bailey also would go on to lead the Chargers in scoring with a career-high 32 points for the game. Sophomore guard Derrick Rowland finished with 27 and was an impressive 7-11 behind the arc. As a team, the Chargers made a season-high 18 three pointers. The Chargers went on to win the game 99-77 and completed the season sweep of the rival Owls.

The Chargers took to the road on Saturday to face off against conference foe the Adelphi Panthers. Adelphi stood just below New Haven in the Southwest standings. New Haven went in looking to extend their lead over the Panthers as the season comes to a close. Unfortunately, the Chargers weren’t able to keep their two-game winning streak alive as they lost 83-78.

New Haven had a solid first half led by Bailey who had 12 points and played the entire first half. New Haven went into the half with a 36-32 lead. In the second half, New Haven extended their lead to as much as 11 at one point as Felizor began to heat up from deep going 3-4 from the three-point arc in the second half.  The Panthers spurred a run midway through the second half to diminish the Chargers lead and with seven minutes left in the half, the Panthers took a two-point lead that they never lost for the rest of the game. Bailey finished the game for New Haven with 21 points and freshman guard Quashawn Lane had a career high 19 points. Adelphi was led by Nick Cambio with 23 points.  The Chargers will take the court again on Wednesday as they take on Pace University on the road. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.