SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Led by 26 points from senior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) and 18 points from senior Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown), the New Haven men's basketball team held off American International by a score of 65-54 on Tuesday night. New Haven (3-5, 2-3 NE10) outscored the Yellow Jackets 30-24 in the paint and held a 34-26 edge on the boards. Felizor had a game-high nine rebounds and Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) added a career-high eight boards. Darius Roundtree (Plainfield, N.J./The Patrick School) pulled in seven rebounds while Bailey had five rebounds and connected on five three-pointers on the offensive end.

New Haven finished the game shooting 42.9 percent (24-for-56) overall and 40.9 percent (9-for-22) from three-point range, and held AIC to 6-for-19 from beyond the arc.

Thomas tied the game 5-5 early with a three-pointer, then drained his second of the early going to put New Haven back on top 10-8 at the 15:49 mark. The basket sparked a 9-0 run that also featured two baskets from Rowland and a jumper from Bailey to bring the lead to 16-8.

Bailey drained a three-pointer to get the lead to double digits at the first time, 19-9, with 10:34 left until halftime.

Bailey and Rowland each added threes to make it 25-11, and Felizor used a free throw and then a dunk to double-up the Yellow Jackets 32-16 with 1:55 remaining until halftime. AIC closed the half by scoring six of the final eight points, including a dunk at the buzzer to get within 34-22 at the break.

The Chargers grew the lead to 15 twice early in the second half before Roundtree knocked down a wide open three from the left wing to go up 45-27 just under four minutes in.

The Chargers built up an 18-point lead at 13:48 before AIC used a 9-0 run to get back within 47-36 at 12:15.

The Jackets used back-to-back threes to get back within single digits, 49-42 with 10:03 on the clock as part of an extended 13-2 run, forcing a New Haven timeout.

The Chargers answered with a 7-0 run, beginning with a Felizor offensive putback, then Bailey drove from beyond half court for a big layup while being fouled, and hit the ensuing free throw to grow the lead back to 12, 54-42 with under eight minutes to go.

AIC would get no closer than 12 on three separate occasions over the final seven minutes, as the Chargers used baskets from Thomas, Rowland and Bailey to help hold off the Yellow Jackets run.

The Blue and Gold will return home for their next game this coming Sunday, December 15 to host Holy Family in a non-conference matchup a 3 p.m.