#2 SW New Haven (20-7) at #1 NE Saint Anselm (20-6)
Northeast-10 Championship Semifinals
Wednesday, March 5 – 7 p.m.
Manchester, N.H. – Stoutenburgh Gymnasium
Live Video | Live Stats | NE-10 Championship Central
 
Complete Game Notes (PDF)
 
Opening Tip
The University of New Haven men's basketball team enters the Northeast-10 Championship Semifinals for the first time in program history with a trip to Saint Anselm. The Chargers are the No. 2 seed in the NE-10 Southwest, and the Hawks are the Northeast Division's top-seeded club.
 
Chargers in the NE-10 Championship
2013-14 marks the Chargers' third consecutive and third-ever appearance in the Northeast-10 Championship. Sunday's Quarterfinal win over Saint Michael's sent New Haven to its first NE-10 Semifinal in six seasons as a member of the conference.
 
In 2011-12, New Haven won a First Round game at Pace before falling in the NE-10 Quarterfinals at Adelphi. Last winter, the third-seeded Chargers hosted Southern New Hampshire in the Quarterfinal round and were edged in overtime, 79-75.
 
Last Time Out
Eric Anderson recorded 19 points and 19 rebounds to lead New Haven to an 83-65 win over visiting Saint Michael's in a Northeast-10 Championship Quarterfinal on Sunday afternoon at Charger Gymnasium. Jeffery Adkins matched Anderson with 19 points for the Chargers.
 
As a unit, the Chargers went 30-for-62 (48.4 percent) from the floor and knocked down a season-best 11 three-pointers as a part of an 11-for-29 (37.9 percent) showing from distance.
 
Adkins also distributed six assists to go along with his 19 points. All five starters scored in double figures as Justin Exum poured in 13 points while Ashanti DePass and Cyrus James each netted 11.
 
The Chargers held a 42-30 rebounding advantage as 12 offensive boards led to 20 New Haven second-chance points. Each club committed six turnovers.
 
New Haven Notes
Sunday's win in the NE-10 Quarterfinals moved the Chargers to 20-7 overall 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 highest victory total since the 1987-88 squad went 26-5 en route to an NCAA regional berth. That team fell in the regional championship game to the eventual national champion, the University of Lowell (now Massachusetts-Lowell).
 
In the latest NCAA report (through games played March 2), New Haven ranks fifth in Division II with 62.4 points allowed per game. The Chargers also slot fourth in the nation in fewest turnovers committed per contest (9.3) and 12th in field goal percentage defense (39.9 percent). The Blue and Gold have also committed the fewest fouls per game in all of Division II with just 13.8 infractions per contest.
 
The Chargers have held 25 of 27 opponents below their current 2013-14 scoring average, limiting 14 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 seven contests this winter. New Haven's most efficient effort was a 27-for-49 (55.1 percent) performance in the Nov. 26 win at American International. The Chargers also buried 8-of-16 attempts from beyond the arc and went 12-for-13 from the free throw line in the 74-52 triumph over the Yellow Jackets in Springfield.
 
The Chargers' 11-3 road tally matches the NCAA-era program record for road wins established by 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 (.786) 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 1,056 career points and risen to 31st all-time. This winter, Anderson averages a team-leading 16.0 points and ranks second in the Northeast-10 with 11.9 rebounds per game. The two-time NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year and a 2013-14 First Team All-NE-10 honoree, Anderson ranks second in the conference with 2.48 blocks per contest. He slots fourth in the nation on the boards and 17th in rejections. The junior has posted 18 double-doubles this season.
 
In the midst of his third campaign with the Blue and Gold, Anderson has moved into second all-time at New Haven with 189 rejections. He recently surpassed Bill Jeffress for second place and stands two blocks shy of the 191 shots turned away by Herb Watkins. Both Jeffress and Watkins suited up for the Chargers from 1984-88.
 
Anderson's 71 blocks in 2012-13 were the second-most in a single-season in Charger history, tied with Jeffress and two shy of Watkins' program-record 73 rejections. He has 67 blocked shots to date in 2013-14, which is the fourth-highest single-season total in the New Haven record books.
 
Jeffery Adkins most recently netted 19 points in Sunday's win over Saint Michael's to improve his career mark to 1,243 points and climb to 21st all-time in scoring at New Haven. This season, Adkins is averaging 15.9 points and a team-leading 4.6 assists per contest while shooting 50.7 percent (147-290) from the floor and 81.7 percent (107-131) 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 392 and is in 10th place in steals at 132.
 
Justin Exum has improved his New Haven program record to 287 treys. He ranks fifth among all active Division II student-athletes and 16th across all NCAA divisions in made three-pointers. Exum's career .376 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 1,591 career points. The Chargers' third-leading scorer this season with 15.2 points per game, he is 36 tallies shy of the program's all-time top 10. Exum most recently scored 13 points in Saturday's win over Saint Michael's and is averaging 17.3 points per game over New Haven's last seven contests.
 
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.
 
Cyrus James has recorded the first two double-doubles of his career this season. He is New Haven's most efficient scorer at 67-for-122 (54.9 percent) from the floor en route to 6.0 points to go along with 7.7 rebounds per game. James ranks 10th in the NE-10 in both rebounding and blocked shots (1.19 bpg).
 
In his first season as a member of the starting lineup, Ashanti DePass is netting 10.0 points with 2.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. The senior has knocked down 55 three-pointers and converts a team-best 35 percent of his attempts from distance while playing 32.9 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 63-47 at New Haven (and in his head coaching career) following Saturday's win over Saint Michael's. He ranks fifth all-time in wins on the Chargers' sidelines and his .573 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
With a win, the Chargers would advance to the Northeast-10 Championship Game for the first time in six seasons as a member of the conference. The title game would either be played at home against Le Moyne or at top-seed Southern Connecticut State on Saturday, March 8 at 1 p.m.