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For the first 30 minutes, it felt like victory was eluding the grasp of the University of New Haven men's basketball team.

With students back on campus, the home crowd atmosphere was as electric as it has been in Charger Gymnasium since COVID-19 making it difficult for schools to pack the stands. However, each time the Chargers seemed ready to make a run, visiting Assumption would make just enough plays to keep their hosts at arm's length.

It all began to change midway through the second half. With the Greyhounds up by 11 in larger part due to the shooting of graduate student Matthew Kelly and some key plays from 6-foot-8 senior Omar El Sheikh, it was feeling like most of those in attendance would leave the gym disappointed.

A glimmer of hope arrived when El Sheikh headed to the bench due to foul trouble as he picked up a pair of fouls on illegal screens in the second half.

The Chargers were able to go to a small lineup and that provided the spark they needed with El Shiekh on the bench for more than five minutes.

Assumption aided the UNH cause by missing the front end of a pair of 1-and-1s at the foul line. 

Baskets by Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy), Antonio Lopez (Medford, N.Y./St. Anthony's) and Tavin Pierre Phillipe tied the game. Then Derrick Rowland (Cohoes, N.Y./Green Tech), who missed the last two games due to injury, hit a 3-pointer with 4:25 left to play to give New Haven its first lead of the second half.

The game was tied four more times before Lane was fouled driving to the basket with less than a second to play. He made the first of two foul shots and then intercepted a desperation inbounds pass by Mitchell Doherty to give the Chargers the hard-earned 65-64 win.

"It shows that we can battle through adversity, if we stay together as a team, we can stay [win] down the stretch," said Lane who finished with seven points, six rebounds and six assists.

"You just want to make the right play, you try to be aggressive but obviously you have to keep your mindset not to turn it over because it is definitely a crucial part of the game."

Neither team was particularly effective offensively especially inside the 3-point line in the first half. Assumption was 4 of 13 and New Haven 3 of 12 on two-point shots in the first half but in the second, there were stretches where it appeared as if neither team could miss.

New Haven began throwing an extra defender at Kelly in an attempt to get the ball out of his hands and Kelly's didn't make the Chargers pay.

During the decisive 18-4 run by New Haven that turned an 11-point deficit into a three-point lead, the Greyhounds missed four of its five field-goal attempts and committed three turnovers.

Pierre Phillipe had seven of his team-high 17 points during that game-changing run.  

"Stringing together stops [was key] because Matt was killing us a little bit," Pierre Phillipe said. "In the second half, we were trying to shut that down, stay together and stay strong on defense.

"Comebacks are always great, you are down and rally together and it is always a great feeling. This one was special because we felt like weren't playing the way we should have been at half so we came out with a lot of energy and they came out with it as well."

Rowland had 15 points, five rebounds and two assists. Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) had 13 points with nine coming in the game-opening 12-0 run for New Haven (11-6, 7-5 in the Northeast-10).

Kelly had 31 points and five 3-pointers while El Sheikh added 14 points, 13 rebounds and five assists for Assumption (7-6, 3-6). 

"I thought it was a great college basketball game," New Haven coach Ted Hotaling said. "It was enjoyable to watch, both teams played really well, both teams fought really hard.

"I think it takes some time to get into the flow. It was a great crowd. Tavin's dunk didn't hurt, got them excited and Derrick's 3 got them excited but the energy in the gym was really awesome. We had a former manager here who was counting on it before and I think that had a lot to do with shot making and playmaking."