SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Le Moyne Dolphins gave everything they could in the final minutes but the New Haven men's basketball team held on, advancing to the Northeast-10 semifinal round for the second straight year and the third time since joining the league, escaping Ted Grant Court with a 75-73 victory over the Dolphins. The Chargers will travel to Stonehill on Wednesday night to take on the No. 2 seed from the Northeast Division with a date in the NE10 Championship on the line. Tip off from Merkert Gymnasium is slated for 7:00 p.m.
Leading the Blue and Gold on the night were four of their five starters who racked up double digits in the scoring column with much of the Chargers onslaught coming from outside the three point arc where they finished 10-of-20 overall. Individually, senior Elijah Bailey (Freeport, N.Y./The Hotchkiss School) and sophomore Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) each scored a team-best 16 points to lead the New Haven offense. Following the pair was senior Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) and redshirt junior Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech) who finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Among the 11 points for Rowland was a three pointer with 13:54 remaining in the second half with that bucket pushing the third-year Charger over the 1,000 point plateau, the second New Haven player to hit that mark this season, both of which happened against the Dolphins. Kessly Felizor (Hightstown, N.J./Hightstown) also scored his 1,000th career point when New Haven traveled to Syracuse back on February 8, while Rowland becomes the 37th player in program history to reach the pinnacle.
Overall as a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 47.4 percent scoring (27-of-57) and defensively held the Dolphins to just 30 points through the first 25 minutes of the game. Among the Chargers 27 field goals were the 10 from outside the three point arc as they shot 50% from long range. The Chargers also added 11 points, in 16 attempts, at the free throw line.
Individually, the Chargers best shooting came from Lane and Felizor. The sophomore point guard, who played the full 40 minutes against Le Moyne, shot 4-of-5 from the field, including a perfect 3-of-3 from outside the arc. He was also 5-of-7 at the free throw line and dished out a team-high seven assists. Overall, Lane's seven helpers were part of 14 total for the Chargers. Felizor closed out his shooting performance 5-of-7 from the field with one three pointer in the mix.
New Haven also won the battle of the boards with a 44-35 margin overall. Leading the way for the Chargers was Felizor who completed his team-leading eighth double double while adding a pair of assists to his tally as well. Bailey and freshman Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) followed in the rebounding battle with seven and six boards, respectively.
Coming out of the gates, New Haven was hitting their shots and it paid off. Thomas would open up the scoring with a three pointer from the corner, part of seven total in the first half which came on 11 attempts. Overall, the Chargers built a 40-26 lead at the halftime break and held a double digit advantage for nearly half of the opening 20 minutes. That first double digit lead came thanks to a driving layup made by Bailey with 9:03 to play before intermission.
The largest lead of the opening half for the Blue and Gold would turn out to be 16 which came on a pair of occasions, the first thanks to a corner three pointer from Ross Jones II (Edgewood, Md./Friends School), while Rowland matched that 16 points lead with 30 seconds remaining on a jumper in the paint. The Dolphins would net one more bucket on a put back as time expired.
Coming out of the intermission, the Chargers kept the pressure on, pushing their lead to 20 points just 1:10 into the action thanks to three pointers from Rowland and Lane. After trading the next four points, the Chargers scored five straight to take a 23 point lead, 53-30, which forced a Dolphins timeout.
The Dolphins would begin to chip away at the double figure lead over the next six minutes using a 14-6 run to make it a 15 point game. The Chargers would answer that with an and-one layup and free throw from Felizor that put New Haven ahead 62-44 with 9:36 remaining.
From that point, the Dolphins turned up their defensive pressure to full court at every opportunity and it paid off as they managed to cut the lead into single digits, eventually tying the game at 65 with 3:40 remaining.
After trading the next two buckets, New Haven took the lead for good on a drive to the hoop from Bailey with 1:25 remaining. That began what turned into a 6-0 run and a 73-67 lead with 24 seconds remaining. The Dolphins would convert a quick three pointer on the other end before sending the Chargers to the line where Bailey sank his two attempts for a 75-70 lead with 12 seconds remaining.
After getting fouled and making all three free throws with seven seconds remaining which cut the lead to 75-73, the defensive pressure pair off again as they forced a New Haven turnover with 2.6 second remaining. The Dolphins would get a pair of shot attempts off in that span, a three pointer and a follow up floater, both of which were off the mark as the Chargers took the final buzzer with the two point victory.
