WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven men's basketball team held off a second half surge by Southern Connecticut and pulled away in the final five minutes to knock off No. 2 (NABC Coaches Poll) Southern Connecticut 79-66 in front of a crowd of 578 at Charger Gymnasium. The win for the Chargers hands Southern Connecticut its first loss of the season, while it represents the highest ranked opponent New Haven has upset.
Sophomore guard Michael Bourke (South Orange, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) came off the bench to lead all players in the game with 25 points, his fourth-straight game setting a new career-high. The South Orange, N.J. native finished 5-of-12 overall with four of those field goals from beyond the three point arc. He also went 11-of-13 at the free throw line, extending his team lead for the season to 89.7 percent on 26-of-29.
Defensively, New Haven held the Owls 30 points below their season average, which entering the game was 99.6 points per game. The Chargers defense forced a 32 percent shooting effort on the Owls who finished 24-of-75 for the game. After SCSU pulled within one, 50-49, with 7:46 to play in regulation, New Haven held the Owls to just four field goals in the final seven minutes, one of which came with seven seconds remaining and provided the final margin.
Bourke led a squad of five double figure scorers for the Chargers, the first time this season five players have finished with 10 or more points. The 25 points for Burke represents just the second time this year a New Haven player has surpassed 20 points in a game (Jemal Mosley (Spring Valley, N.Y./Don Bosco Prep / Putnam Science Academy), 27 vs Le Moyne). This is also the second-straight season New Haven has knocked off a ranked opponent as the Chargers defeated then ranked No. 15 East Stroudsburg 79-71 on the road on November 30, 2014.
Joining Burke in leading the Chargers scoring efforts was Mosley and Levy Gillespie (Meriden, Conn./Capital Preparatory Magnet) who each finished with 15, Najee Larcher (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) who chipped in 11 and Samir McDaniels (Roxbury, Mass./New Mission) who contributed 10. Among all the leading scorers, Larcher led the shooting efforts as he finished 4-of-5 form the field, while also adding three free throws.
As a team, New Haven shot 44.2 percent, second best of the season, making 23-of-52 attempts. Eight of the Chargers field goals came from beyond the 20 foot, 9 inch three point arc as they shot 30.8 percent from long range (8-of-26). New Haven also capitalized at the free throw line, making 25-of-32 attempts for 78.1 percent, while limiting the Owls attempts at the line as they finished 11-of-15 for the game.
The Chargers also combined for a season-high 43 rebounds, finishing in a deadlock with the Owls in that category. Leading New Haven's rebounding efforts was senior Joshua Guddemi (Nottingham, England/Derby) who finished with eight boards, matching his career-high set last game against Philadelphia. All but one of the nine Chargers who saw time against SCSU finished with at least two rebounds.
New Haven also combined for a season-high eight blocked shots with a career-high four of those blocks from McDaniels. Mosley and Gillespie led the Chargers with three assists a piece, while the team combined for six steals, all of which came from different players.
The Chargers return to the court in just three days when the travel to Pace for a second-straight conference match up. New Haven and Pace are scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. tip at the Goldstein Fitness Center with that game following the women's which is set to start at 1:30 p.m.
