BOX SCORE WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven men’s basketball team built an 18-point halftime lead on Tuesday against visiting American International and held off the Yellow Jackets with clutch free throw shooting down the stretch in a 65-58 win. Justin Exum (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) led all scorers with a game- and personal season-high 23 points.

The win moves New Haven to 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the NE-10. AIC falls to 4-3 on the season with a 2-3 conference tally.
 
Exum knocked down three three-pointers and shot 12-for-13 from the free throw line en route to 23 points. Jeffery Adkins (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) and Jeremy Williams (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) had 16 apiece for the Chargers. Eric Anderson (Newark, N.J./Newark Tech) netted five points in addition to a game-high 13 rebounds, Cyrus James (Manchester, Conn./Howell Cheney Tech) and Joshua Guddemi (Nottingham, England/Derby) each scored two and Ashanti DePass (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin) had one point.
 
Williams added eight rebounds, while Adkins doled out a team-high four assists and picked up three steals.
 
The Chargers were edged on the glass, 43-42, but won the turnover battle by an 11-9 count.
 
New Haven raced out to a 35-17 halftime advantage with five first-half three-pointers and a stifling defensive effort that limited AIC to a 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) half from the field. Exum had 15 points during the opening 20 minutes, and Williams scored 10 prior to the intermission.
 
The Yellow Jackets had a better second-half offensively, but the Chargers continued to put points on the board to hold off the potential comeback. Nearly half of New Haven’s 30 second-half points came at the stripe via a 12-for-15 showing at the line. The Chargers went 9-for-10 from the free throw line over the final 34 seconds to ice the 65-58 victory.
 
New Haven was 20-for-24 (83.3 percent) at the charity stripe overall, with a 19-for-58 (32.8 percent) day from the field and a 7-for-27 (25.9 percent) performance from distance.
 
The Chargers are in beginning a three-game homestand, which continues on Saturday, Dec. 8 with a 3:30 contest against crosstown and Northeast-10 foe Southern Connecticut State. The stretch from Charger Gymnasium concludes against Concordia on Dec. 19.