SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Trailing by as many as 14 points late in the first half, the New Haven men's basketball team rallied back to take the lead in the final minutes before ultimately falling 69-65 at Le Moyne on Saturday afternoon. Senior Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) led the Chargers with 18 points and a tied his season-best with a game-high 15 rebounds while becoming the 36th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career points. He was one of four Chargers to score in double figures, joined by senior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) who scored 16, sophomore Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) with 15 and junior Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) added 12.

For the game, New Haven outrebounded the Dolphins 39-32 and outscored Le Moyne 32-14 in the paint and 11-2 on second-chance points. The Chargers shot 41.9 percent from the field while Le Moyne shot 41.1 percent for the game. After the Dolphins shot over 47 percent from beyond the arc in the opening half, the Charger defense limited then to just 4-for-13 in the second half.

Bailey started the game with back-to-back threes to give New Haven a 6-0 lead before Le Moyne took the lead with a 14-2 run. Lane broke the spell with a layup to make it 14-10 at the first media timeout at 14:26.

At the 8:16 mark, Felizor took a feed from Rowland in the paint, spun to his right and hit a short jumper to put him at exactly 1,000 points for his career, helping the Chargers get within 23-14. New Haven scored six of the last eight points of the half to climb back within 10 with 1:18 to go, trailing 37-27 at halftime.

Le Moyne shot over 48 percent from the floor and hit eight three-pointers in the first half, limiting the Chargers to 34 percent from the field, while New Haven held a 16-6 edge in the paint.

The Chargers kept the momentum rolling into the second half, extending their run to 13-2 by scoring the first seven points of the period to get within 37-34.

A dunk by Bailey got New Haven within 39-36 and Rowland added a left wing three for make it a two-point game, 44-42, following a timeout.

The Chargers took the lead for the first since since the early stages on a three from Felizor at 7:38 to go up 53-52, then Bailey countered a Le Moyne trey with a layup of his own to make it 55-54.
Le Moyne scored five straight to go back up by four, forcing a New Have timeout at 4:57.

Felizor sank his second triple of the game at 3:49 to get within 61-60, then added another layup on the next possession to pull New Haven within one point once again.

Lane put the Chargers back up by one with 1:18 remaining, sinking a huge three from the right corner to just beat the shot clock and give the Chargers a 65-64 lead.

Le Moyne retook the lead with a pair of free throws, then forced a pair of Charger turnovers in the final 25 seconds before hitting three more free throws in the closing seconds to hold on for the four-point win.

The Chargers will return to upstate New York on Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. matchup at Saint Rose.