NCAA Division II East Region Championship Quarterfinals
(2) New Haven (21-8) vs. (7) Bloomfield (20-8)
Saturday, March 15 – 2:30 p.m.
New Haven, Conn. – Moore Field House (at Southern Connecticut State University)
Live Video | Live Stats | Interactive Bracket
 
Pre-Championship Interview with Jeffery Adkins (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway)
Pre-Championship Interview with Ted Hotaling (Head Coach)

Complete Championship Information Website

Complete Game Notes (PDF)
 
Opening Tip
The second-seeded University of New Haven men's basketball team begins the seventh NCAA postseason appearance in program history with an East Region Championship Quarterfinal clash against seventh-seeded Bloomfield. The Chargers defeated the host Deacons, 67-62, on Nov. 30.

Chargers in the National Postseason
New Haven has made six prior appearances in the NCAA postseason, including last season's trip to the East Region semifinals. The Chargers recorded wins on the national stage in 1988 (vs. Quinnipiac), 2003 (vs. Southern New Hampshire) and 2013 (vs. Dominican).

New Haven's NCAA Division II Championship History
(All Games in NCAA East/Northeast/New England Regional)
2014     vs. Bloomfield  Quarterfinals
2013     vs. Dominican W, 73-66 Quarterfinals
              vs. Franklin Pierce L, 80-63 Semifinals
2004     vs. Southern New Hampshire L, 74-67 Quarterfinals
2003     vs. Southern New Hampshire W, 76-71 Quarterfinals
              vs. C.W. Post L, 78-61 Semifinals
1990     vs. Bridgeport L, 83-78 Semifinals
              vs. New Hampshire L, 91-88 Consolation Game
1988    vs. Quinnipiac W, 96-62 Semifinals
              vs. Lowell L, 84-72 Championship
1987    vs. New Hampshire L, 71-70 Semifinals
             vs. Saint Anselm L, 94-88 Consolation Game

Early in the program's varsity history, the Chargers made three appearances at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Tournament in Kansas City. New Haven was defeated in the opening round in 1966 and 1969 and earned the first national postseason win in program history with a triumph over Albany State (Ga.) at the 1968 tournament.

Scouting Report
A loss to Holy Family in the CACC Championship Semifinals snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Deacons from Bloomfield, who enter the national postseason with a record of 20-8. Bloomfield was the regular season champion of the CACC North Division at 17-2 in the conference.

Claude Blue leads the Deacons' offense with 14.3 points per game, while Marvin Williams adds 13.2 tallies per contest. Kevin Udo ranks second in the CACC with a team-leading 10.0 rebounds per game.

On the offensive end, Bloomfield ranks second in the CACC with 79.0 points per game. Defensively, the Deacons slot ninth in the 14-team CACC with 73.8 points allowed per game. Bloomfield leads its conference in rebounding margin (+7.5).

Earlier This Season
A game-high 21 points from Jeffery Adkins guided the Chargers to a 67-62 victory at Bloomfield on Nov. 30.

Adkins shot 7-for-13 from the field and 7-for-9 from the free throw line and filled out the statsheet with seven rebounds and six assists. Ashanti DePass sank three three-pointers on his way to 13 points. In the post, Cyrus James added seven points and 10 rebounds.

The Chargers were outrebounded, 52-47, and each club committed eight turnovers.

New Haven led by as many as 22 points in the first period and held off a second-half surge that saw the margin shrink to one point before the Chargers sealed the game at the free throw line.

All-Time Series
Including this season's win in New Jersey, the Chargers own a 5-3 advantage in the all-time series. The ledger is tied, 1-1, during the tenure of fourth-year Head Coach Ted Hotaling..

New Haven vs. The Field
The Chargers are 3-6 this season against the teams that comprise the East Region Championship bracket. New Haven is 1-0 against Bloomfield, 1-1 against both Le Moyne and Saint Anselm, 0-1 against Franklin Pierce and 0-3 against Southern Connecticut State. In those nine outings, Jeffery Adkins averaged a team-high 19.4 points per game while shooting 54 percent from the floor. Eric Anderson recorded 13.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per contest against the East Region field.

New Haven Notes
Saturday's NE-10 Championship Game moved the Chargers to 21-8 this season. Following last season's 20-9 campaign, New Haven has clinched back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the 2002-03 (21-10) and 2003-04 (21-9) campaigns. A 22-win season would be New Haven's best since the 1987-88 squad went 26-5 en route to the NCAA regional.

New Haven currently ranks sixth in Division II with 62.6 points allowed per game. The Chargers also slot third in the nation in fewest turnovers committed per contest (9.0) and 11th in field goal percentage defense (39.7 percent). The Blue and Gold have also committed the fewest fouls per game in all of Division II with just 13.7 infractions per contest.

The Chargers have held 27 of 29 opponents below their current 2013-14 scoring average, limiting 15 foes to 60 points or fewer. New Haven has not ceded 80 points in regulation in a game this season.

Offensively, the Blue and Gold shot 50 percent or better from the field in eight contests this winter. Last Wednesday's NE-10 Semifinal win at Saint Anselm marked two season-bests with 85 points scored and a 55.4 field goal percentage - the program's highest since shooting 57.1 percent from the floor at Dowling on Nov. 13, 2011.

In their NE-10 Championship triumphs over Saint Michael's and Saint Anselm, the Chargers scored more than 80 points in consecutive games for the first time since netting 86 points in a win at Concordia and pouring in 83 in a home victory over Mercy during the 2007-08 campaign.

The Chargers' 12-4 road tally marks the NCAA-era program record for road wins, surpassing the 1987-88 squad that won 11 of its 14 true road games en route to a 25-6 overall finish. The Blue and Gold have posted a winning record on the road in each of the last three seasons after a stretch of seven consecutive sub-.500 campaigns away from Charger Gymnasium from 2004-11. New Haven currently sports a better road winning percentage (.750) than home winning percentage (.692) for the first time since the 1985-86 campaign.

With 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting in the Feb. 15 win over Pace, Eric Anderson became the 34th member of the Chargers' 1,000-Point Club. He has since increased his total to 1,085 career points and risen to 31st all-time. This winter, Anderson averages 15.9 points and ranks second in the Northeast-10 with 11.7 rebounds per game. The two-time NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year and a 2013-14 First Team All-NE-10 and Daktronics All-East Region honoree, Anderson also ranks second in the conference with 2.52 blocks per contest. He slots seventh in the nation on the boards and 17th in rejections. The junior has posted 19 double-doubles this season.

In the midst of his third campaign with the Blue and Gold, Anderson has claimed the New Haven all-time record with 195 career blocked shots, surpassing the 191 shots turned away by Herb Watkins from 1984-88. The only player in program history with 70 or more blocks in two seasons, Anderson's 73 rejections this winter tie Watkins' single-season program record established in 1986-87.

Jeffery Adkins most recently netted a career-best 28 points on Saturday to improve his career mark to 1,294 points and climb to 19th all-time in scoring at New Haven. This season, Adkins is averaging a team-leading 16.6 points as well as a team-best 4.5 assists per contest while shooting 52.4 percent (166-317) from the floor and 81.6 percent (115-141) from the free throw line en route to Second Team All-Northeast-10 honors. He has also moved into fourth all-time in assists at New Haven with 398 and is in 10th place in steals at 132.

Justin Exum has improved his New Haven program record to 291 treys. He ranks fifth among all active Division II student-athletes and 16th across all NCAA divisions in made three-pointers. Exum's career .375 shooting percentage from distance is the sixth-best in program history.

An All-Northeast-10 Honorable Mention this season, Exum also ranks 11th all-time in scoring at New Haven with 1,623 career points. The Chargers' third-leading scorer this season with 15.2 points per game, he is four tallies shy of Phil Andros (1,627 career points) and the program's all-time top 10. Exum most recently scored 11 points on Saturday at Southern Connecticut State.
With both Anderson and Adkins joining Exum in the 34-member 1,000-Point Club, the Chargers boast three active 1,000-point scorers for the first time since Brian Smith (1,936), Mike Grove (1,589) and Dwane Crawford (1,095) shared the court in the 1992-93 season.

The Chargers' All-Northeast-10 trio combined for 65 of the club's 85 points in last Wednesday's semifinal win at Saint Anselm, as Adkins scored 23 points while Anderson and Exum each tallied 21. Three Chargers last scored 20 or more points in the same game on Jan. 20, 1993 when Jason Williams poured in 34 points, Dwane Crawford notched 26 points and Mike Grove registered 23 points in a 106-96 home win over Bridgeport.

Cyrus James has recorded the first two double-doubles of his career this season. He is New Haven's most efficient scorer at 77-for-133 (57.4 percent) from the floor en route to 6.3 points to go along with 7.7 rebounds per game. James ranks ninth in the NE-10 in rebounding and 10th in blocked shots (1.21 bpg).

In his first season as a member of the starting lineup, Ashanti DePass is netting 9.7 points with 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. The senior has knocked down 56 three-pointers and converts 34.4 percent of his attempts from distance while playing 32.8 minutes per outing. Additionally, DePass is often charged with defending the opposition's top scorer from the perimeter.

Fourth-year head coach Ted Hotaling stands at 64-48 at New Haven (and in his head coaching career) following Saturday's Northeast-10 Championship Game. He ranks fifth all-time in wins on the Chargers' sidelines and his .571 winning percentage is third in New Haven history.

Of the nine head coaches in New Haven men's basketball history, eight of them have coached at least 100 games for the Chargers. Hotaling's 55-45 mark through 100 contests was the best since Stu Grove went 63-37 en route to a program-record 253 wins from 1980-1995. Don Ormrod leads the list with an 85-15 mark while leading New Haven's first five varsity seasons and finished his tenure at 124-22 with a program-best .849 winning percentage from 1961-67. Ormrod was also the first Director of Athletics at New Haven College.

Up Next
The winner of this afternoon's quarterfinal will meet the winner of the Saint Anselm/Le Moyne matchup. Semifinal action tips off on Sunday, March 16 at 5 p.m. The 2014 NCAA Div. II East Region Championship Game is scheduled for Tuesday, March 18 at 7 p.m.l.