SPARKILL, N.Y. – The University of New Haven men's basketball team (1-1) couldn't find a solution for the Saint Thomas Aquinas pressure, falling 82-66 in the final game of the STAC Tip-Off Classic on Saturday night. New Haven was led by junior transfer Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) who finished with 17 points and a season-best nine assists.

Upchurch was one of three Chargers to finish in double figures, joined by Michael Bourke (South Orange, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) and Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) who finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Combined the three leading scorers finished with eight three pointers, while as a team the Chargers finished with 11 long range buckets.

Overall, those 11 three pointers came on 31 attempts for a 35.5 percent effort from long range, while the Chargers finished the game shooting 40 percent overall, converting 22-of-55 field goal attempts. The Blue and Gold also made 11-of-14 free throw attempts.

Freshman Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) led New Haven's rebounding efforts pulling in nine rebounds, part of 31 total for the Chargers who trailed STAC in the battle of the boards 35-31. Najee Larcher (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) followed him with six.

FIRST HALF NOTES

·         New Haven came out of the gets and was firing from beyond the arc, hitting their first two three point attempts of the game. Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) drilled both long range buckets, including the opening basket of the night on the first possession off the tip.

·         Following a 13 point run for the Spartans, Roy Kane broke the momentum with a pair of free throws, however those two free throws along with two more from Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) would be the only points over a seven minute stretch with the Blue and Gold held without a field goal.

·         Tommy Hunt (Smithfield, R.I./St. Andrew's) broke that field goal drought with the first of back-to-back three pointers from the junior with those two buckets coming less than two minutes apart.

·         Upchurch led the Chargers in the opening half, finishing the first 20 minutes with eight points and also dishing out four assists. Bailey and Hunt each followed Upchurch with six points as each finished with two three pointers.

·         The Chargers connected on just nine of 25 field goal attempts in the first half with four of those baskets coming from beyond the arc. They also converted all but one of their five free throw attempts. The majority of New Haven's first half scoring came on jumpers as they finished with eight first half points in the paint.

·         The Blue and Gold finished the first half in a 15-15 stalemate on the battle of the boards with sophomore Najee Larcher (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) leading the way pulling down six. Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) followed just behind him with four.  

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         The Chargers again came out of the gates firing, scoring the first five points of the second thanks to a jumper from Bailey and a three pointer from Upchurch, all while holding the Spartans without a bucket over the first 90 seconds.

·         Facing a 25 point deficit five minutes into the second half, the Chargers again went back-to-back with three pointers from Najee Larcher (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) and Michael Bourke (South Orange, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton), while again holding the Spartans scoreless, this time for a three minute stretch.

·         The Chargers would then use a stretch of nine unanswered points to pull the deficit to 10 with six minutes remaining. Upchurch had a hand in three of the baskets during the run with a pair assists and his second three pointer of the game. Capping off the run for New Haven was a high flying dunk from Felizor off an alley-oop from Upchurch.

·         Bourke would pull New Haven back to a 10-point deficit on two more occasions over the next minute of action as he went a perfect 4-of-4 at the line during that stretch.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

·         Sophomore Michael Bourke (South Orange, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) scored in double figures for the second-straight game and 18th time in his career.

·         Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic)'s nine assists is his second straight game with eight or more, now averaging 8.5 per game.

·         Freshman Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) finished one rebound shy of double digits. He currently leads the team with 23 rebounds on the season, averaging 11.5 boards per game.

·         The 11 three pointers for New Haven is the first double digit game of the season for the team. Last season, the Chargers finished with 10 or more long range buckets in 10 total games.

TWEETABLES (140 characters or less)

·         JR guard Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) combined for 17 assists over the two-day Tip-Off Classic, while averaging 15 points for  @GoChargersMBB

·         The nine assists for @GoChargersMBB's JR transfer Upchurch is the most by a player since Jan. 2015

·         .@GoChargersMBB combined for 11 total three pointers, breaking the double digit barrier for the first time on the season.

·         Two @GoChargersMBB players finished with double figures in both games so far in 2016-17 – Upchurch (13 & 18) and Bourke (18 & 15).

NEXT ON TAP
New Haven will makes its first of 14 appearances at Charger Gymnasium on Wednesday, November 16 when it hosts Le Moyne for the Northeast-10 Conference opener. Opening tip off in the doubleheader with the women's team is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.