COLCHESTER, Vt. – Jumping right into Northeast-10 Conference play out of the gates, the New Haven men's basketball team had its season and conference opener spoiled in a down-to-the-wire 75-74 decision at Saint Michael's.
Leading the Chargers on the night was a pair of 20-point performances from Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) and a new face, Ty Perry (Boston, Mass./Brighton). Both finished with exactly 20 points as each put up eight field goals. Thomas had four three pointers among his eight buckets, while Perry added four points at the free throw line where he was 4-of-5. Combined, the pair shot 16-of-34 from the field, while as a team the Charger shot exactly 50 percent, making 30-of-60 attempts, including five three pointers.
Joining Thomas and Perry in double digits was graduate point guard Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) and center Majur Majak (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./) who each put up 10 points. Lane finished with three buckets, while going a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line. Majak was 5-of-7 from the floor overall, while pulling down seven boards.
In addition to his team leading point performance, Perry also led the Blue and Gold with nine rebounds while the Chargers finished the night with a 39-26 advantage in that column. Included were 10 offensive boards which New Haven turned into 12 second chance points.
With the Chargers playing a short bench, just eight total players saw action, New Haven saw all but five of its 74 points come from the starting five. On the other side, Saint Michael's used a barrage of three pointers to secure its victory, finishing the night with 14 buckets from beyond the arc, more than inside the arc as they finished the night 26-of-59 overall.
As the Purple Knights looked to have complete control, taking a seven point lead with 47 seconds remaining, New Haven proved you can't count the Chargers out. Victor Olawoye (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial High School) answered that deficit with a three pointer before the Purple Knights used a pair of free throws to regain a six points lead with 20 seconds remaining.
After a pair of free throws from Lane with 12 seconds remaining, the Chargers forced a Saint Micahe's turnover under their own basket with no time coming off the clock and benefited from a deep three pointer from Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) with nine seconds remaining that cut the Purple Knights lead down to one points.
The Purple Knights would miss the front end of a one-and-one opportunity at the free throw line with the Chargers having 6.5 seconds to work with, but were unable to get a shot off as time expired on the season opener.
