SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Junior Roy Kane Jr. scored 16 points, including 11 in the second half to lead the University of New Haven men's basketball team in a 73-62 exhibition setback at the BIG EAST's Seton Hall on Friday afternoon. Kane was one of three Chargers in double figures as he joined junior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) and redshirt-sophomore Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) who each finished with 15 points, with all of Rowland's coming in the final 20 minutes.
Overall, New Haven finished the game shooting 38 percent from the field, connecting on 22-of-58 field goal attempts. Included were six buckets from beyond the three point arc. Individually, Kane led the way connecting on all but one of his six field goal attempts with two from beyond the arc, while going 4-of-5 at the free throw line. After finishing 0-of-7 in the opening half, Rowland lit up in the second half as he finished 6-of-10, including a pair of three pointers.
As a team, the Chargers combined for 27 rebounds, trailing the Pirates by 11 in that category. Leading the way individually was Kane who finished with six while freshman point guard Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J. /Trenton Catholic Academy) added five.
Bailey opened up the game making five of his first seven attempts from the field as the Chargers kept it a single digit game through the first 12 minutes, trailing 29-19 at the under eight media timeout. New Haven never lead in the contest, but pulled within a pair on multiple occasions, the last of which came with 9:50 to play courtesy of a pair of Bailey free throws. The Pirates answered with an 8-0 run for the first double digit lead of the afternoon.
The Chargers answered that run with 4-0 rally of their own thanks to a jumper from Ross Jones and a layup from Kessley Felizor. Another Seton Hall rally led to a 40-23 margin, the largest of the half for the Pirates, before the Chargers scored the final points of the half thanks to Kane layup.
Coming out of the break, the Chargers shooting remained hot as they made five of their first seven attempts in the period. Kane and Rowland opened up the second half scoring with back-to-back layups before the Pirates got on the board.
After trading scores for a good 10 minute stretch, the Chargers began to chip away at what grew to a 23 point Seton Hall lead, pulling as close as 11 in the final minutes. Included in that late run for New Haven was seven unanswered points, five of which came at the free throw line while the final three points in the run came from Rowland as he completed an old fashioned three point play to pull within 16, 68-52.
Defensively, New Haven held Seton Hall to just a pair of buckets over the final 8:58 of the contest, outscoring the Pirates 19-7 down the stretch. Back-to-back three pointers with two minutes remaining pulled New Haven's deficit down to 11, while a layup from Rowland in the final seconds rounded out the scoring for both teams.
New Haven will now turn its attention to a non-conference match-up with ECC foe LIU Post. The 2018-19 season opener for the Chargers is scheduled for Wednesday, November 14 with opening tip slated for 7:00 p.m. at Platt Recreation Center.
