ALBANY, N.Y. – Trailing by 22 points with under 7:30 remaining, the New Haven men's basketball team ripped off a 20-0 run to pull within two points with under two minutes remaining before ultimately falling 77-73 at Saint Rose on Wednesday evening. Redshirt junior Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) led the team with 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting, with 19 of his points coming in the second half. Senior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) scored 19 points and senior Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) added 16 points and eight rebounds on 6-of-9 from the field.

New Haven finished the game shooting 45.9 percent from the field, while the Golden Knights shot 54.5 percent and outrebounded the Chargers 38-25. New Haven held an 18-4 edge in transition and committed only eight turnovers, while forcing 17 Saint Rose miscues.

Felizor had an early three and Bailey used a driving layup to help the Chargers storm out to a quick 9-1 lead by the 17:51 mark. Saint Rose scored six unanswered following a timeout, and the Chargers got the lead back to three with a monster slam from Antonio Lopez (Medford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) to make it 13-10.

The teams went back-and-forth as the Chargers grew the lead to four on three occasions following a Rowland three-pointer, a Bailey layup and another slam by Lopez that made it 26-22 Chargers at 8:30.

From there, the Golden Knights used consecutive three-pointers to spark a 20-4 run to close the half and take a 42-30 lead into halftime, finishing the period shooting over 58 percent from the floor and outscoring the Chargers 24-18 in the paint.

The Chargers quickly got within six to start the second half as Rowland opened up with a three and Felizor had a free throw and putback basket to get within 44-38. Saint Rose stole the momentum right back by using an extended 15-4 run to build a 59-42 lead, forcing a New Haven timeout at 13:20.

Trailing by 22 with 7:35 remaining, the Chargers surged with a massive 20-0 run to pull within two points with just under two minutes remaining.

Rowland used a steal and score to pull New Haven within 75-63 with 5:28 left, drawing a foul and hitting the ensuing free throw. A Bailey jumper cut it to eight, four straight points from Rowland made it 75-71, and a putback dunk by Felizor made it 75-73 with 1:48 left. New Haven followed with back-to-back empty possessions, but the defense earned the team another chance after forcing a five-second call on an inbounds play with 16 seconds remaining.

Following a missed jumper, Saint Rose grabbed the defensive rebound and hit two free throws with five seconds left to make it a two-possession game and hold on for the win.

Overall, New Haven's run featured nine points from Rowland and seven for Bailey. The Chargers held Saint Rose scoreless for a 7:30 stretch, and without a field goal over the final 7:35.

New Haven will return home to Charger Gymnasium when they face American International on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.