WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven men's basketball team (7-5, 2-4 Northeast-10) closed out the 2016 portion of its schedule winning its fourth in the last five games after leading the Queens Knights end-to-end for an 83-61 victory. Dominating the Chargers offense on the day was sophomore Michael Bourke (South Orange, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) who came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points, one of five players in double figures.
Bourke's 20 points came on a 5-of-7 effort from the field, including three from long range, while he was also one two players who finished a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Joining him in leading the team was a trio of starters, freshmen Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) (14 points) and Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) (10) and junior Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) (10), while freshman Roy Kane, Jr. (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) came off the bench to chip in 11 points as he closed out the day two rebounds shy of his first career double double.
As a team, New Haven shot 54.2 percent from the field, making 26-of-48 field goal attempts with eight coming from long range. The Chargers also finished 23-of-25 from the free throw line, an impressive 92 percent. The 54.2 percent from the field is a season-high and the second time this year the Chargers have shot 50 percent or better, while it is the first time this season that five players have finished in double figures. Additionally, the 23 free throws is the second time New Haven has connected on 20 or more this season and the most since the Chargers converted 25 against Southern Connecticut on December 2, 2015.
The Blue and Gold also closed out the afternoon with a 33-31 advantage on the boards with Kane's eight rebounds tied for the team-high with Felizor. Overall, eight players finished with at least one rebound on the day.
FIRST HALF NOTES
· New Haven came out of the gates and quickly opened up a 7-2 lead and never looked back from that point. Following that five point lead, the Knights managed to pull within one point on just one occasion, while the Chargers expanded their advantage into double digits in less than eight minutes of action.
· Following a pair of back-to-back Queens buckets that pulled the New Haven lead to 7-6, the Chargers rattled off 11 straight points, holding the Knights without a bucket for nearly four minutes before a second chance layup ended the drought.
· The Blue and Gold's largest lead in the first half came with under a minute remaining before the intermission when Upchurch drove the lane for a pair with 39 seconds remaining. Overall, New Haven held the Knights to just three points, which came on a three pointer, in the final three minutes.
· Bourke led the Chargers in the opening half as he finished perfect offensively with three field goals, including a pair of three pointers, while also connecting on all three of his free throw attempts for 11 points.
· Joining him in leading the way was Kane who finished with seven points while Felizor chipped in six and Bailey and Upchurch each added five.
· As a team, the Chargers posted an impressive 65.2 percent shooting effort in the opening half, making 15-of-23 field goal attempts, while limiting Queens to 12 field goals in 32 attempts (37.5 percent). The Chargers also made eight trips to the free throw line, making seven, and did not send the Knights to the line at all in the first half.
SECOND HALF NOTES
· Coming out of the locker room, the Chargers built on their 15 point lead by netting the first field goal of the half when Tommy Hunt (Smithfield, R.I./St. Andrew's) took a feed from Felizor and scored off the backdoor pass.
· Early in the second, the Blue and Gold held Queens to just three points over a three minute span and during that time extended their lead to 18 points, the largest to that point, on a Felizor layup thanks to a pass from Upchurch.
· The defense again stepped up and held Queens to just five points over a six minute stretch that spanned the midpoint of the half and resulted in New Haven building a 20-plus lead. In that same defensive stretch, the Chargers scored 14 points and opened up a 23 points lead thanks to a layup from Najee Larcher (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) off a pass from Bourke.
· The Blue and Gold's largest lead of the game came with just over five minutes remaining as Bailey converted an old fashioned three point play that resulted in a 76-52 advantage with 5:07 remaining.
· The Chargers scoring in the second half was balanced throughout the team with 10 different players accounting for the 41 points. Leading the way overall was Bailey and Bourke who each finished with nine points, including Bailey going a perfect 7-of-7 at the line in his 12 minutes of action in the second half.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
· The 33-31 advantage on the boards marks the eighth time that New Haven has outrebounded its opponent, sporting a 6-2 record in those games.
· The win for New Haven pushed the Chargers non-conference record to 5-1 while it was the fourth straight win in non-league play.
· With this victory, New Haven is now 6-0 when leading at the half, while they improve to 4-0 when four or more players finish in double figures.
· Upchurch has now dished out five or more assists in all but two games, extending his team lead to 77 assists, the most in a single season since 2014-15 when Eric Anderson dished out 104.
· The win for seventh year head coach Ted Hotaling is the 94th of his career as he inches closer to the 100 win plateau. Hotaling will become just the fourth coach in the history of the program to reach 100 wins at the helm of the Chargers.
TWEETABLES (140 characters or less)
· Sophomore Michael Bourke (South Orange, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) became the third Charger to score 20 or more in a game as he led @GoChargersMBB to its fifth non-conference win
· PG Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) led @GoChargersMBB in assists for the 12th time in as many games and now has more assists than any player since 2014-15
· FR Roy Kane, Jr. (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) finished his 1st game in a @GoChargersMBB uniform in double figures (11) while finishing 2 boards shy of a double double
· FR Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) has now scored in double figures in 7 of his last 8 games and is averaging 15.6 points for @GoChargersMBB during that span
· With the win over Queens, @GoChargersMBB won its 4th straight non NE10 game and improved to 4-0 when 4-plus Chargers finish with 10-plus pts
NEXT ON TAP
New Haven next returns to the hardwood in 2017 when they jump back into NE10 play and begin to face Northeast Division foes with a trip to Merrimack first on the docket. The first game of the New Year is slated for a 7:30 p.m. tip off on Wednesday, January 4 at Hammel Court in North Andover, Ma.
