WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The University of New Haven men's basketball team (5-4, 2-3 Northeast-10) cruised to its third non-conference win of the season, defeating Nutmeg State rival Post University 64-52 on Thursday night at Charger Gymnasium. Leading the way for New Haven was junior Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) and freshman Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) who each finished with 15 points, part of a trio of players in double figures.

Of the two leading scorers, Felizor led the way shooting 75 percent on the night, converting six of his eight field goal attempts. He also pulled in a team-high eight rebounds, his seventh game leading the team in rebounding. Upchurch closed out his night making 5-of-11 attempts from the field, including three from beyond the three point arc, while also converting both of his free throw attempts. He also led the team with eight assists, his seventh game of the year with five or more assists.

Joining Felizor and Upchurch in leading the offense was freshman Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) who chipped in 10 points and pulled down five rebounds. Eight of his 10 points came in the second half as he closed out the second half shooting 4-of-9 from the field. Tommy Hunt (Smithfield, R.I./St. Andrew's) and Mihailo Vasic (Novi Sad, Serbia) rounded out a starting five that accounted for all but seven of the Chargers 64 points as they finished with nine and eight points, respectively.

As a team, New Haven shot 48 percent from the field, making 26-of-54 field goal attempts with seven coming from long range. The Chargers also finished 5-of-8 from the free throw line, while posting a 38-37 advantage on the boards.

FIRST HALF NOTES

·         New Haven came out of the gates and quickly opened up a double digit lead, the first of which came at 16-5, while defensively holding the Eagles with just one field goal in their first 14 attempts on the night.

·         Eight of those first 16 points for the Blue and Gold came from Felizor while both Hunt and Upchurch hit a pair of three pointers during that opening stretch. The second of those long range buckets, which came from Upchurch, provided that initial double digit lead.

·         The Chargers largest lead of the opening half came with 6:30 remaining before the break when a three pointer off the fingertips of Joseph Doganiero (Wellsboro, Pa./Wellsboro) netted a 24-11 advantage for the home team.

·         Post would chip away at New Haven's advantage down the stretch in opening half, but a layup from Felizor pushed him to a dozen and provided the halftime margin of 30-23 as a last second three point attempt from the Eagles was off the mark.

·         New Haven held the Eagles to just 30 percent shooting in the first half, more than 10 percentage points lower than their field goal percentage for the season (41.2). The Eagles also struggled from beyond the arc, finishing with just two made three pointers in nine attempts for a 22.2 percent average.

·         Both Felizor (12) and Upchurch (10) would net double figures in the opening half with Felizor finishing 5-of-7 from the field over the first 15 minutes. In addition to Upchurch's 10 points he also dished out five assists to close out the half.

SECOND HALF NOTES

·         New Haven came out of the locker room and again put the defensive pressure on Post, limiting the Eagles to just one field goal over the first four-plus minutes. During that stretch, the Chargers matched their largest lead from the first half of 13 points, outscoring Post 8-2.

·         New Haven wouldn't relinquish that double figure lead the remainder of the game, pushing the advantage to as much as 20 points in the second half. Overall, New Haven led the game for more than 36 of the 40 minutes.

·         New Haven also took great control of the ball in the second half, limiting their miscues to just four over the final 20 minutes.

·         Leading the Chargers in the second half was Vasic and Bailey who each finished with eight points. Vasic would close out the half missing just one of his five field goal attempts.

·         As a team, New Have finished the second half shooting just shy of 54 percent from the field, making 15-of-28 field goal attempts, including three from beyond the arc.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

·         Felizor's 15 points was his fifth game of the season in double figures, three of which have come in non-conference play, while he has now led the team on the boards in seven of the first 10 games of his career.

·         Overall, 57 of the Chargers 64 total points came from its starting five, while all but 14 of the 64 total points came from players wearing Blue and Gold for the first time this season.

·         Upchurch has now finished four games with eight or more assists and continues to rank among the top two in the NE10 for total assists. His 59 total assists through the first 10 games of the season has surpassed any player from 2015-16 (Joshua Guddemi (Nottingham, England/Derby) led the team with 52).

·         The three three-point field goals for junior Tommy Hunt (Smithfield, R.I./St. Andrew's) was the most for the sharpshooter this season. Hunt recently became the 17th player in school history to sink at least 100 career three pointers and has now passed Cassius Chaney (2006-10) for 16th all-time in school history with 103.

·         The win for seventh year head coach Ted Hotaling is the 92nd 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)

·         The 15 points for freshman Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) set a career-high, while he has now led @GoChargersMBB in rebounding in a team-high 7 games

·         .@GoChargersMBB finished with a 38-37 advantage on the boards. The Chargers are now 4-1 when outrebounding their opponent.

·         .@GoChargersMBB JR point guard Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) has more assists in his first 10 games than any player from last season.

·         57 of @GoChargersMBB's 64 total points came from the starting five, while 50 of the 64 points came from newcomers on the Chargers roster

NEXT ON TAP
New Haven returns to the hardwood in less than 48 hours when they host NE10 Southwest Division rival American International on Saturday afternoon at Charger Gym. Tipoff in the second game of a doubleheader with the women's team is slated for 3:30 p.m.