PHOTOS (Courtesy Jim Stankiewicz | Malarkey Photo Group)
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Clutch free throws and a massive block in the final 10 seconds from point guard Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J. /Trenton Catholic Academy) vaulted the University of New Haven men's basketball team to a 72-67 victory over the Daemen Wildcats to advance to the semifinal round of the NCAA Division II East Region Championship.
With the victory, New Haven advances to the East Region semifinals for the first time since 2013 and will take on the top seed and host Saint Anselm in the second game on Sunday evening. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. from what is expected to be a sold out Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
Leading the Blue and Gold on the night was junior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) who finished with 17 points as four of the five starters all closed out the night in double figures. Joining him was Lane and junior Roy Kane Jr. who each finished with 14 points while redshirt sophomore Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) rounded out the group with 13.
Overall, New Haven would rely on six different scorers with junior Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) chipping in with eight points and senior Najee Larcher (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) closing out the scoring with six points. The Chargers finished the night shooting 42.6 percent from the field, connecting on 20-of-47 field goal attempts, including eight three pointers. At the line, New Haven scored 24 points which came on 29 attempts as they more than doubled the Wildcats at the free throw line.
Felizor opened up the scoring with a deep three pointer off a pass from Kane and quickly turned that into a 5-0 lead before the Wildcats rattled off three straight buckets for the first lead change of the night.
New Haven answered that rally by scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a 15-8 lead. Beginning that turnaround for the Chargers were back-to-back three's from Rowland and Kane. Four straight from Bailey would close out the run with the largest lead to that point.
After trading points over the next six minutes, the Wildcats used back-to-back old fashioned three point plays to complete the third lead change of the half at 22-21. New Haven answered with five unanswered points from Lane, all on the fast break. From that point, the Chargers wouldn't relinquish their lead the remainder of the period.
Daemen was able to knot the score at 28 just after the final media timeout of the half, however the Chargers responded by scoring 11 of the final 13 points in the half to take a 39-30 advantage into the locker room. New Haven's defense held the Wildcats without a field goal over the final 3:18 of the period while answering that 28-28 stalemate with back-to-back three pointers from Lane and Felizor. A pair of free throws from Kane completed what was an 8-0 run before the Chargers closed out the frame with a three from the corner off the hands of Rowland thanks to a pass from Felizor.
At the break, New Haven was led by Kane who scoring nine points, shooting 3-of-4 from the field. Three players followed right behind him with eight points apiece; Felizor, Bailey and Lane. The Chargers closed out the opening half shooting an even 50 percent, connecting on 13-of-26 attempts, including 6-of-12 from beyond the three point arc.
Coming out of the break, the Wildcats defense held New Haven scoreless in its first five attempts during which time Daemen was able to rattle off seven-straight to pull within two, 39-37. After the Wildcats extended that run to 9-0 to knot the game at 39, New Haven answered with back-to-back buckets from Bailey and Kane, the latter of which was a three pointer courtesy of Lane's feed.
Despite that early run and another late in the game, the Chargers would never relinquish their lead after gaining the advantage towards the latter minutes of the first half. Following that five-put spurt for New Haven that ended the Wildcats run, the Chargers used a 7-1 run to regain its nine point advantage. The first five points in that run came unanswered with Kane rewarding Lane's earlier assist with one of his own as Lane hit his second of the game from long range.
Much of the Chargers offense in the second half came at the free throw line where they finished 17-of-21 over the final 20 minutes of action. Among those 17 free throws were 13 that came over the final seven minutes of action to keep New Haven in the mix. It was back-to-back perfect trips to the line from Larcher and Kane that provided a six point cushion with under five minutes to play.
Daemen wasn't going to go down lightly, battling to tie the score at 64 with two minutes to go. The Chargers responded with a perfectly executed inbound play to Larcher that he laid in, while after the Wildcats matched that bucket, Bailey found an open path to the hoop, driving in for a pair.
From that point, New Haven's defense held Daemen without a bucket over the final 1:42 and to just a single free throw down the stretch as the Chargers went 4-for-6 with Lane icing the victory on a critical block in the final 10 seconds before he was sent back to the line for a pair.
