SYRACUSE, N.Y. – It took an extra five minutes, but the University of New Haven men's basketball team closed out its regular season schedule in style with an overtime upset of the No. 22 ranked Le Moyne Dolphins on Tuesday night. Leading the Chargers in the regular season finale was sophomore Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) who finished with a career-high 25 points.

The win for New Haven also broke a 12-game win streak for the Dolphins who will enter the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference Championship as the top-seed from the Southwest Division. The Chargers will take the third seed into this weekend's tournament and will face the Northeast Division second seed, Merrimack on Sunday, February 25. Additionally, the Chargers upset of Le Moyne is the first win over a ranked opponent since knocking off the No. 2 ranked Southern Connecticut Owls on December 2, 2015.

Bailey opened up the game hitting his first five field goal attempts, all in the first half as he finished with a game-high 14 points in the opening period. Overall for the game, his 25 points came on 10-of-15 from the field, including four three pointers while he also pulled down six rebounds, tying his career best.

Joining Bailey in double figures was senior point guard Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) who chipped in 17 points and sophomore Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) who added 10 points. Rowland led the trio from the field, making all but two of this six field goal attempts. As a team, the Chargers connected on 42.1 percent of their attempts (24-of-57), with nine of their field goals coming from outside the three point arc. The Blue and Gold also added 10 points at the free throw line in 12 attempts.

New Haven also won the battle of the boards with a 38-35 advantage, ending the regular season with a 16-1 record when outrebounding its opponents. Leading the Chargers rebounding efforts was sophomore Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) who pulled down 11 boards, his fifth game of the season in double figures. Following Felizor was Bailey and Roy Kane, Jr. (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) who each pulled down six.

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         Bailey opened the scoring for the Chargers, sinking his first three pointer of the night on New Haven's opening possession. That bucket also provided a 3-2 lead for the Chargers, their only in the opening half.

·         Following that three pointer, the Dolphins quickly turned the momentum in their favor, rattling off 11 unanswered points over the next four-plus minutes which resulted in a 13-3 lead.

·         The Chargers quickly answered that deficit by draining back-to-back three pointers from Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) and Joseph Doganiero (Wellsboro, Pa./Wellsboro) with the two baskets coming less than a minute apart.

·         Those two threes were part of a stretch where New Haven scored 11-of-14 points, cutting the Dolphins lead to a single basket with 11:31 to play. The final five points in that rally all came from Mihailo Vasic (Novi Sad, Serbia), including his third three pointer of the season.

·         Just prior to the five minute mark the Chargers again cut the deficit down to a pair, this time with five unanswered points from Bailey and Rowland that resulted in a 23-21 Le Moyne advantage.

·         Trailing by seven with under two minutes to play, Bailey singlehandedly brought New Haven's deficit to one point before the break with his third three pointer of the half which he followed up with an old fashioned three point play.

·         Bailey led all players in the game in the first half as he finished with half of the Chargers 29 points, putting up 14 which secured his 13th double figure game of the season. Bailey closed out the half shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, including three from long range.

·         Including these five field goals, Bailey has hit his last 12 field goal attempts dating back to the Chargers contest at Saint Rose on February 10.

·         Four other Chargers provided scoring in the opening half with Mihailo Vasic (Novi Sad, Serbia) and Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) each finishing with five points to follow Bailey.

·         Despite being held without a field goal in the opening half, Danny Upchurch (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Catholic) finished the first half with six assists, while leading the team finished the half shooting 41.7 percent from the field (10-of-24).

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         Coming out of the intermission, the Chargers would net the first points of the half, again taking a slim one-point lead thanks to Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown)'s first field goal of the night, a layup 34 seconds into the action.

·         The Dolphins again answered that lead change with a run, this time seven straight points, however the Chargers responded with back-to-back layups from Upchurch and Felizor.

·         Le Moyne kept the pressure on as they were able to once again take a double digit lead, as much as 12, 47-35, courtesy of a 10-0 run that last five-and-a-half minutes. The final basket of that Le Moyne rally would end up being the second-to-last in the half for the home team who would be held without a field goal until the 17 second mark.

·         New Haven quickly answered that Le Moyne rally by scoring nine-straight and 14 of the next 16 to tie the game at 49 with 5:56 remaining. From that point forward, the Chargers and Dolphins would end up in a draw four more times, closing out regulation with a 58-58 stalemate despite a last second three point attempt by Upchurch that would've ended the game in regulation. 

·         Upchurch, who was held to just two first half points, led the Chargers in the second half with 15 points as he finished 4-of-9 from the field and added six points in seven attempts at the free throw line.

OVERTIME HIGHLIGHTS

·         The overtime period began with a back-and-forth battle through the first three minutes until the Dolphins took a 64-62 lead with just over 90 seconds remaining which came on a rally of three-straight points.

·         The Chargers responded to that deficit with back-to-back layups from Bailey that provided the final lead change as Le Moyne was unable to match that on the other end.

·         After a three pointer was off the mark, the Dolphins were unable to convert on a second-chance opportunity with three seconds remaining. Kane would pull down the rebound and was fouled on the play, icing the victory hitting one-of-two at the line with a single second remaining.

·         Bailey would lead all scorers in the overtime period as he finished with six of New Haven's nine total points. Those six points came on a perfect 3-of-3 performance from the field.

UP NEXT
New Haven, the third seed out of the Southwest Division, will begin its second-straight Northeast-10 Conference Championship with a trip to North Andover, Mass. to take on the Merrimack Warriors. Last season, the Chargers and Warriors battled in a first round match-up with New Haven scoring a lopsided 84-58 victory. This time around, the Blue and Gold will take on Merrimack in a quarterfinal match-up that is scheduled for Sunday, February 25 with a 3:00 p.m. tip off at the Warriors Hammel Court.