BROOKVILLE, N.Y. – The University of New Haven men's basketball team (3-3 overall) broke a two game skid with a 77-67 victory, its largest margin of victory this season, over the LIU Post Pioneers at Pratt Recreation Center on Sunday afternoon. Leading the Chargers was Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) who finished off his first double double of the season with 17 points and 10 assists.

Upchurch was one of four Chargers to finish in double figures with freshman Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) netting a career-best for the second-straight game, putting up 26 points against the Pioneers. His 26 points are the most this season for a Charger and he now owns two of the three 20-plus games of the year for the Blue and Gold. Rounding out the leading scorers was sophomore Michael Bourke (South Orange, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) with 15 points and freshman Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) who contributed 11 points.

Among the leading scorers, Felizor closed out the night with a team-high 57.1 percent shooting effort, making 4-of-7 field goal attempts. Bailey finished his night with seven field goals in 16 attempts while sinking a team-high four three pointers. Upchurch finished the game shooting 50 percent on 4-of-8, while he was a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line. Bourke finished with six total field goals, three of which came from beyond the arc.

As a team, New Haven shot 46.2 percent from the field, making 24-of-52 attempts, while holding the Pioneers to just 35.3 percent on their home court. The Chargers made a game-high eight three pointers and converted 21 of their 28 trips to the free throw line, a season-high. The Pioneers did own a 42-33 margin in the rebounding battle.  

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         New Haven came out of the gates sluggish as the Pioneers open up an early 11-0 lead. In that opening run for LIU Post, which took under five minutes, that Chargers went 0-7 from the field.

·         After a layup from Upchurch broke that early drought, the Blue and Gold quickly erased that deficit by hitting five straight three pointers, eventually leading to the first lead change of the day with a 17-15 advantage in favor of the Chargers. Of the five three pointers, the first and last came from Bourke while Bailey would drain the three in between Bourke.

·         Despite three tie scores in between, New Haven held on to that lead for nearly seven minutes until an old fashioned three point play provided the second lead change with just under four minutes remaining in the half.

·         The teams would trade baskets the remainder of the opening half with a jumper from Bourke with seven second remaining providing the final margin at the intermission, 33-32 in favor of New Haven.

·         Bailey and Bourke would combine to score all but seven points in the opening half with Bailey leading all players in the game with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         The Chargers again opened up the second half on a drought from the field without netting their opening basket for four minutes when Upchurch broke the ice with a three pointer that tied the score at 38. New Haven's defense proved tough during that stretch, limiting the Pioneers to just six points.

·         That three pointer for Upchurch was part of a 7-0 run for New Haven with five of the seven coming from the junior point guard and the remaining two from Mihailo Vasic (Novi Sad, Serbia).

·         After trading baskets for the next two minutes, the Chargers answered a 53-53 tie by scoring nine unanswered points, taking the lead for good thanks to a free throw from Felizor. Also included in that run for Felizor was a dunk thanks to a feed from Upchurch.

·         The Pioneers would hold New Haven without a field goal over the final 2:22 of the game, but it was the Chargers poise at the free throw line that cemented the victory as they closed out the game making 9-of-12 at the line.

NEXT ON TAP
New Haven returns to Northeast-10 Conference play with a midweek battle against crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University, the first of a home-and-home series against the Owls. The initial meeting between the Southwest Division foes is slated for a 7:30 p.m. opening tip on Wednesday, November 30 at SCSU's Moore Field House.