WEST HAVEN, Conn. – With all five starters in double figures, the New Haven men's basketball team led for all but 72 seconds as they improve to 7-3 on the season with a 97-72 win over the Molloy Lions on Thursday night at Charger Gymnasium.

In its return to the court in nearly 20 days, the Blue and Gold was led by senior post Tyrone Perry who jumped back into double digits with a career-high 24 points as 11 different players entered the scoring column. Joining Perry in leading the offense was graduate Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) with 15 points, while senior Majur Majak (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./) finished just shy of a double double with 11 points and nine board as he missed just one of his six field goal attempts. Majak also led the team with eight blocks.

As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 61 percent from the field, making 36-of-59 attempts, 11 of which came from outside the three-point arc. The Chargers best shooting came in the opening half where they shot 67.9 percent (19-of-28) with seven three's and 9-of-11 from the free throw line.

New Haven will close out the 2022 portion of their schedule with a New Year's Eve matinee as they welcome Le Moyne to Charger Gymnasium on Saturday, December 31. Tip-off between the Chargers and Dolphins is set for 3:30 p.m. following the women's game with all of the action available live on the Charger Sports Network on NE10 NOW.

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         The Chargers came out of the gates scoring on the first possession of the game with Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) hitting the jumper just 17 seconds into the action. The Lions followed with a quick three pointer on their opening possession which provided the Lions only lead of the half, 3-2.

·         A pair of free throws from Victor Olawoye (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial High School) would provide the next lead change and New Haven would lead the remainder of the half, building as much as a 21-point lead during the opening 20 minutes of action.

·         The Lions first two buckets of the game would both come from behind the three-point arc, the second cutting the lead to a single point, before New Haven went on to build its first double digit lead at 23-12 thanks to a three from Sean Braithwaite (Center Moriches, N.Y./Center Moriches) just shy of 10 minutes into the action.

·         That three came midway through a five-minute stretch where the Chargers held Molloy without a field goal, building a 27-12 lead.

·         Just over two minutes after the Lions broke that drought, the Chargers doubled up Molloy at 32-16 thanks to a 5-0 rally that included an and-one form perry and a coast-to-coast bucket from Lane.

·         Back-to-back three pointers from Olawoye and Lane that came just under a minute apart led to the largest lead of the half, 50-29, with that advantage coming with 1:41 remaining in the half.

·         Molloy outscored the Chargers 6-4 in the final 100 seconds of the half, but it was a layup from Justin Hendrick (Valley Stream, N.Y./St. Francis) at the buzzer that provided the final margin of the frame, 54-35.

·         Both Perry and Lane finished the first half with 13 points, with lane going a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, with a three pointer, and 4-of-4 at the free throw line.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·         The Chargers opened up the second half the same way they started the game, scoring the first eight points of the half to take a 27-point lead less than two minutes back into the action. Both Perry and Majak finished with four points in that early run.

·         The Lions looked to begin a run at lowering the New Haven deficit, rattling off five straight points before a three pointer from Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) broke that streak, regaining a 70-48 lead.

·         A three from Molloy 90 seconds later matched that 19-point deficit for the Lions but they would get no closer as New Haven responded by scoring 11 of the next 14 points to take a 28-point lead with just over eight minutes remaining.

·         The Chargers largest lead of the game came with 69 seconds remaining which came courtesy of a 7-0 run capped off by a Jason Edokpayi (Laurel, Md./Mount St. Joseph) hook shot. The Lions answered by scoring the final six points of the game.