NORTH EASTON, Mass. – The University of New Haven men's basketball win streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon as the Chargers dropped an 80-63 decision at Stonehill, the first loss on the road in Northeast-10 action this season for the Blue and Gold. Leading the Chargers on the afternoon was Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) who finished with 14 points, one of three players in double figures.
Also coming to an end against the Skyhawks was senior point guard Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic)'s streak of 20-plus games, which stood at six-straight heading into the contest. Upchurch finished today's game with 13 points, while classmate Mihailo Vasic (Novi Sad, Serbia) rounded out the leaders with a dozen points. Upchurch also dished out a game-high seven assists.
Najee Larcher (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) finished just shy of the trio in double figures as he added nine points, while four other players all contributed to the offense. As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 41.4 percent from the field, with 24 field goals in 58 attempts. Part of those 24 field goals were seven from beyond the three point arc, with Upchurch leading the way in that column with a trio of three pointers.
The Chargers and Skyhawks did finish the battle with a draw in the rebounding column as each squad pulled down 33 boards. Leading the way for the Blue and Gold was Upchurch, Vasic and Larcher who all hauled in six boards.
FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS
· New Haven opened up the scoring on the first possession of the afternoon with Larcher converting the first shot attempt of the game.
· The Chargers would hold an advantage for much of the first five minutes before Stonehill rattled off 14 straight points to quickly open up an 11 point advantage at the midway point of the half.
· The visitors responded to that rally with one of their own as the Blue and Gold scored six straight to cut the deficit to five points. Included in the run was a three pointer from Rowland, while Larcher scored the first point of the rally and the last on a free throw.
· Despite Vasic scoring the final points of the half for either team with 78 seconds remaining, the Chargers scored just six points over the final seven minutes of the half and trailed by 12 going into the break.
· Rowland led the Chargers in the opening half with nine points, while Larcher and Vasic followed with seven and six points, respectively. Upchurch, the Chargers leading scorer, was held scoreless in the first half as he finished 0-of-6 in the opening period.
SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS
· New Haven managed to cut the deficit into single digits less than three minutes into the second half as they rattled off seven straight points that resulted in a 42-36 lead for the home team. Vasic scored the first and last bucket in that run, with those two baskets sandwiching a three pointer for Upchurch, his first made field goal of the game after opening 0-of-7.
· After two minutes without a bucket for either team, the Chargers looked to be making a comeback as they pulled within four points with 14:18 remaining as Upchurch dished out to Rowland for the layup that provided a 44-40 deficit.
· The Skyhawks weren't going to relinquish the lead however as they answered that Rowland bucket by scoring the next seven points to regain a double digit lead and built their advantage to as much as 19 on a pair of occasions in the final 20 minutes.
· Upchurch, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half led the Chargers scoring as he closed out the game hitting four of his final five field goal attempts, including all three of his attempts from beyond the three point arc.
UP NEXT
The Chargers return home for a single stop at Charger Gymnasium when they host the Franklin Pierce Ravens for a midweek match-up on Tuesday night. Tip off against the Ravens is slated for 7:30 p.m. following the women's game. Following that, New Haven will travel to Southern New Hampshire for its final game against the Northeast Division on Saturday, Jan. 27.
