NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The University of New Haven men's basketball team dropped its opening game of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Sunday, falling 75-59 to the Northeast Division's second seed Merrimack. Leading the Blue and Gold on the afternoon was sophomore Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) who finished with 19 points.

Bailey was one of three players in double figures with Roy Kane, Jr. (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) and Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) following him with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Among the three leading scorers, Bailey led the way hitting 5-of-9 from the field while adding nine free throws in 10 attempts at the line.

As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 41.2 percent from the field with 21 field goals in 51 attempts, while being held without a three point field goal for the first time this season. The Chargers also picked up 17 points at the free throw line with those coming in 20 attempts.

The Chargers did win the battle of the boards with an impressive 36-25 advantage, led by Felizor who pulled down eight rebounds. Overall, all eight players who saw time against the Warriors finished with at least two rebounds with Bailey following Felizor with seven.

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         New Haven started off the half slow, held scoreless through the first five minutes before Kane put the Chargers on the board with a perfect trip to the line. Those two points sparked an 8-0 run for New Haven, resulting in the first lead of the afternoon for the visiting team. Three different players would provide offense in the rally with the final four points and the lead change coming courtesy of Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech)'s back-to-back lay-ins.

·         The game featured four stalemates over the remainder of the opening half with neither team leading by more than four points until the final 90 seconds when the Warriors answered a Mihailo Vasic (Novi Sad, Serbia) free throw with an 8-2 run that broke open a 33-26 lead. The Chargers would muster the final points of the half on a Vasic layup, cutting the deficit to 33-28 at the intermission.

·         Kane led all scorers in the opening half, securing his ninth game in double figures with 12 points. He closed out the half Hitting 4-of-6 from the field and was also perfect at the free throw line in four attempts. Kane also pulled down three boards, part of 19 total for the Chargers as they outrebounded the Warriors 19-11.

·         Among New Haven's 19 rebounds were six on the offensive glass which they turned into six unanswered points. New Haven also outscored Merrimack in the paint with an 18-14 advantage.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         The Warriors opened up the second half similar to how they opened up the game, quickly opening up a double digit lead just over two minutes into the second period.

·         New Haven would only manage to cut the Warriors lead down to single digits on a pair of occasions, the first coming on back-to-back buckets from Vasic and Bailey and the second coming on a pair of free throws from Bailey.

·         Two players would finish in double figures in the second half to lead the Chargers with Bailey posting a team-best 14 points as he finished 3-of-4 from the field and made all of his eight attempts from the free throw line.

·         Joining Bailey in leading New Haven in the second half was Felizor who finished with all 11 of his points in the second half. He also pulled down six of his eight rebounds over the final 20 minutes of action.

UP NEXT
New Haven will await the NCAA Division II selection show to see if they will earn one of the five at-large bids in the upcoming East Region Championship. Entering this week, the Chargers were ranked 10th in the East Region, however the upset win over No. 22 Le Moyne was not included in that most recent ranking.