GAME DAY INFORMATION
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DATE: February 15, 2020
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LOCATION: Charger Gymnasium | West Haven, Conn.
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GAME DAY LINKS
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LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
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THE FIRST LOOK
New Haven looks to bounce back from a three-game skid on Saturday when they host American International. A win over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday would be the first season sweep of a Southwest Division foe this season.
INSIDE THE SERIES
· New Haven and American International meet for the 59th time in the history of the two programs.
· Thanks to its current six game win streak over AIC, New Haven evened the all-time series at 29 wins apiece with the first meeting this year.
· The all-time series dates back to February 1994.
· Under 10th-year head coach Ted Hotaling, the Chargers hold a slim advantage over the Yellow Jackets, 11-8.
· After breaking a five-game skid against the Yellow Jackets in the second meeting in 2016-17, the Chargers have won the last six-straight in the series, including a sweep of the home-and-home series in each of the last two seasons.
SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
The Chargers have relied on the returning experience of seniors Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) and Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) and redshirt junior Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) who combined have provided over 66.8% of the overall scoring for the season. Leading the way is Bailey who is averaging 19.6 points per game and scored 20+ in five straight that spanned the end of November up to the holiday break, increasing his average in that stretch alone to 27.0 ppg. In a recent cross-division outing against Saint Anselm, Bailey net 30+ for the second time this season, dropping in a career-high 33 points. Rowland follows Bailey adding 14.2 ppg. while leading the team with 104 assists. Among his highlights this season was a career-high 32 points against Adelphi and a career-high 10 handouts which came against Holy Family. Felizor rounds out the three leaders adding 13.6 ppg while leading the team in rebounding (8.8 rpg), steals (26) and blocks (17). Among Felizor's highlights was a career-high 33 points at STAC.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
Winners in two of its last three, AIC is currently 1-1 in its second trip through the Southwest Division with a loss to Adelphi (92-95) and most recently, a home win over Southern Connecticut (87-65). The Yellow Jackets feature a very balanced offense that includes seven different players who average over seven points per game. Leading the way is senior combo Zekiah Owens who puts up an average of 12.8 points per game while he is second on the team in rebounding at 5.7 rebounds per contest. Ownes also leads the team with 23 steals and 10 blocks. Following him in leading the scoring efforts is junior guard Shyheim Hicks and redshirt sophomore combo Bane Terzic who add 11.1 and 10.6 ppg, respectively.
UP NEXT
The Chargers will face one last road test this season and it is arguably the biggest of the year for the Blue and Gold as they travel just five minutes from campus to face crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University. Opening tip in the rivalry game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., following the women's game.
LAST TIME THEY MET
Trailing by 22 points with under 7:30 remaining, the 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. 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. Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) scored 19 points and 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 (28-of-61) from the field, while the Golden Knights shot 54.5 percent (30-of-55) 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.
LAST TIME OUT
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 men's basketball team held off American International by a score of 65-54 on Tuesday night. New Haven 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.
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
For the fifth time in the last six years, New Haven knocked off a ranked opponent when they defeated the No. 17/18 Bentley 72-42 in cross-divisional action. The win over Bentley also marks the second-straight year New Haven defeated a ranked Bentley team. Overall under Hotaling, the Chargers have defeated seven ranked opponents, including the highest ranked team in program history; No. 2 Southern Connecticut State University in 2015-16.
BRING OUT THE BROOMS
Senior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) and Freshman Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) capped off a 2-0 week sweeping the NE10 Weekly awards. Bailey earns the second NE10 Player of the Week accolade of his career, while Thomas is the first Charger to earn Rookie of the Week honors since Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) earned the distinction on February 19, 2018. That date also marks the last time the Chargers swept the weekly honors with Rowland joined by then senior Danny Upchurch who earned Player of the Week honors. Bailey closed out last week averaging 25 points on 18-of-24 field goal attempts with eight of those buckets from outside the three point arc. Bailey also hauled in 15 boards including his first career double double with a career-high 10 rebounds against Holy Family. Thomas capped off his weekly performance with a pair of career highs on Sunday afternoon against Holy Family when he scored 18 points and dished out six assists.
HONOR ROLL
In addition to its Player and Rookie of the Week awards, the Northeast-10 Conference also doles out Honor Roll accolades to some of the best performances from the week prior. So far this season, Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) (4x), Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) (2x) and Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) (2x) have each earned the honor multiple times.
2019-20 NE10 Honor Roll Recipients
Nov. 25 :: Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School)
Dec. 09 :: Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School)
Dec. 09 :: Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown)
Dec. 16 :: Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown)
Jan. 6 :: Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech)
Jan. 13 :: Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School)
Jan. 20 :: Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School)
Jan. 20 :: Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech)
Feb. 3 :: Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School)
Feb. 3 :: Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown)
Feb. 10 ::Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown)
THREE POINT THREAT
With the return of the top two three point shooters from a season ago, New Haven is poised to build on the momentum of a school record 267 three point field goals last season. It was the second straight year the Chargers hit a school record from long range as they did so with 239 during the 2017-18 campaign. Leading New Haven into the new season will be Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) (68) and Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) (66) who combined for half of the total three pointers from last season. The biggest loss from outside the arc comes in the form of Roy Kane, Jr. (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) who finished with 46 three pointers. Through the first 22 games, the Chargers have converted 192 three pointers, if they were to maintain their current average for the remainder of the regular season the Chargers would stand at 234 three pointers made.
TIGHTENING THE BELT
Since returning from the Sunshine State, head coach Ted Hotaling may have hit the point in the season where he has tightened the belt on his rotation, relying on just seven players total in a three-game stretch against SCSU, Saint Rose and AIC. Additionally, all 71 points against SCSU and all 65 points against American International came from the starting five.
MOVIN' ON UP
Senior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) became the 35th player in program history to hit the 1,000 career point plateau as part of a then-career-high 32-point night against crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University on February 6, 2019. After opening the season rounding out the top 25 on the career scoring list, Bailey will continue to quickly ascend the ranks. With his 19 points last time out at Saint Rose he inched closer to the top-10 all-time and now needs 20 points to reach that plateau. With 1,616 points currently, Bailey stands nine points from passing Phil Andros (1963-67) who is currently 11th with 1,627 points and has Justin Exum (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) who is currently 10th all time (1,635 points) in his cross hairs.
MILESTONE MAN
Senior Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) is the newest member of the 1,000 point club at New Haven and at the same time is the first player since Eric Anderson (Newark, N.J./Newark Tech) (2011-15) to be a member of two prestigious lists at New Haven; the 500 Rebound and 1,000 Point clubs. Last season, Felizor broke into the 500 rebound club and has since moved up to ninth all-time. In the hunt for 1,000 points, Felizor broke the plateau with his team-high 18 points agaisnt Le Moyne and currently stands 15 points shy of moving into 34th all-time, where he would pass Don Dempsey (1964-68) who has 1,042 career points. Overall, Felizor is the 18th player all-time to join both the 500 rebound and 1,000 point club.
NO MOUNTAIN TO HIGH
Redshirt junior Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) is the newest Charger in the hunt for 1,000 as he stands 48 points shy of becoming the second player this season to join the prestigious list. In addition Felizor who broke the plateau against Le Moyne, Rowland would be the third active player on the roster to join the list during their career as a Charger.
DIALING LONG DISTANCE
Senior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) entered another top-10 in program history in the early part of the season when he broke in among the top three point shooters at New Haven. With his two made three pointers against Franklin Pierce, Bailey moved into third all-time in program history with 193. Bailey will likely settle into the number two spot all-time as he would need to convert 57 more three pointers to tie Mike Grove for second (251, 1989-93).
DOUBLE DIPPING
Senior Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) flew a bit under the radar in the month of December, but in doing so he has compiled a double double in four of the five games that month. In that same stretch, the senior post player averaged with 18.6 ppg and 10.6 rebounds per game, while shooting an impressive 65.5 percent in that same stretch (36-of-55). In addition to that, Felizor picked off 10 steals over the five game stretch.
NEW YEAR, NEW YOU
Since the calendar rolled over to a new decade, the Chargers redshirt junior guard Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) has been nothing but impressive, racking up a pair of 25+ performances, including a career-high 32 points against NE10 SW Division foe Adelphi. Over the 12 games since the New Year, Rowland is averaging 17.3 points, shooting 74-of-137 (54.0%) overall and 35-of-69 (51%) from long range and has dished out 57 assists, grabbed 27 boards, picked off 15 steals and blocked four shots.
LITERACY MATTERS
For the fourth straight season, the New Haven men's basketball team partnered with Coaching for Literacy to promote the #Fight4Literacy initiative with this year's game coming on February 1 when the Chargers hosted Franklin Pierce. New Haven remains the only Division II program to partner with Coaching for Literacy, a program whose goal is to promote childhood reading in local communities. In addition to raising awareness on February 1, the Chargers offered a special admission opportunity that afternoon - any fan who brought a new or gently used book to the game received complimentary admission. All books collected were then donated to the West Haven Read to Grow program.
FUTURE FOAL
Tenth year head coach Ted Hotaling announced the commitment of one player during the early signing period in November, a 6-2 forward out of Elizabeth High School in Elizabeth, N.J., Jordan Price. As a junior last season, Price averaged 14.6 points per game, while pulling down 6.8 rebounds per game. Among his highlights last year was a 30-point outing versus Christian Brothers on February 9, while he also posted a 23 point, eight rebound and six block performance against Plainfield on January 15.
PRESEASON PROPS
After being picked second in the previous two seasons, New Haven was the unanimous pick to win the Southwest Division in the Northeast-10 as predicted by a tally of the league's head coaches. New Haven registered 91 points in the poll, the most among all 14 teams in the league. The reigning NCAA East Region Champion Saint Anselm was picked to finish first in the Northeast Division earning five of the 14 possible first place votes, while Stonehill matched the five first place votes but finished second in the overall vote tally.
2019-20 NE10 Men's Basketball Coaches Poll
Northeast Division:
1. Saint Anselm - 78 (5)
2. Stonehill - 72 (5)
3. Bentley – 62 (1)
t-4. Franklin Pierce – 60 (3)
t-4. Southern New Hampshire – 60
6. Assumption – 33
7. Saint Michael's - 20
Southwest Division:
1. New Haven - 91 (13)
2. Adelphi - 69 (1)
3. Southern Connecticut – 61
4. Pace – 53
5. Le Moyne – 51
6. Saint Rose – 36
7. American International - 24
THE SCHEDULE
"Our goal each year is to play a competitive non-league schedule to prepare us for the Northeast-10, one of the toughest leagues in the country," said head coach Ted Hotaling. "We have accomplished that again this season with games against teams both inside and outside of the East Region."
· The New Haven men's basketball schedule consists of 26 total dates.
· The Chargers open up the season with a big test, playing four of their first five games away from the friendly confines of Charger Gymnasium. Included is a trip to the Sunshine State to compete in the Terrace Hotel Thanksgiving Classic against perennial Sunshine State Conference power Florida Southern, and Saint Leo.
· Among the 13 Northeast-10 Conference opponents, the Chargers will play their six divisional opponents twice; Adelphi, Southern Connecticut State, Saint Rose, Pace, Le Moyne and American International.
· New Haven will play seven non-conference games including Concordia (N.Y.), Florida Southern, Saint Leo, Holy Family, Jefferson, Saint Thomas Aquinas and a season-ending match-up with Molloy.
