RINDGE, N.H. – Despite a late push from the Chargers, the New Haven men's basketball team dropped its second-straight road game 77-72 at Franklin Pierce on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, New Haven falls to 13-6 overall and 10-4 in the Northeast-10 Conference.

A trio of Chargers closed out the game in double figures with junior Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) leading the Blue and Gold with 19 points, followed closely by graduate guard Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) with 18 points. Rounding out the leading scorers was senior transfer Ty Perry (Boston, Mass./Brighton) who finished with 15 points. Among the three leading scorers, Lane led the way in the shooting column, connecting 6-of-10 from the field, while also going 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Both Perry and Thomas also finished with six field goals, with Thomas leading the team from beyond the three point arc with four of his six buckets from long range.

As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 46.4 percent from the floor, connecting on 26-of-56, with seven of those from outside the arc. The Chargers also went 13-of-16 at the free throw line, while trailing the Ravens in the battle of the boards 29-37. Perry led New Haven with six rebounds, while all of the eight players who saw time finished with at least two boards.

New Haven will return home for three-straight home games, beginning with a Wednesday night visit from the Saint Rose Golden Knights. Tipoff in the NE10 battle is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with all of the action available on the Charger Sports Network on NE10 NOW.

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·        New Haven came out of the gates to score the first points of the game, those coming more than 90 seconds into the action when Thomas converted a layup thanks to a feed from freshman Justin Hendrick (Valley Stream, N.Y./St. Francis) who make his first start of the season.

·        A layup from Lane less than a minute later resulted in the second lead change of the day, while Franklin Pierce answered with back-to-back three pointers to take a 9-4 lead they wouldn't relinquish despite New Haven tying the score on two occasions.

·        The Ravens largest lead in the first half came with 12:27 remaining thanks to another three pointer for the home team. New Haven answered that eight point deficit by scoring six unanswered on back-to-back buckets from Jason Edokpayi (Laurel, Md./Mount St. Joseph) and the final from Perry that pulled the deficit to 17-15 at the midway points of the half.

·        Just about three minutes later and trailing by five, the Chargers began a 5-0 run that resulted in a 25-25 draw with 6:22 to play before the break. Hendrick began that small rally with a three pointer while Perry capped it off with a fast break layup, going the distance just four seconds after Thomas pulled down the offensive board on the other end.

·        Looking to close out the half with a lead, New Haven cut the Ravens deficit to two on a Hendrick layup with 2:32 to play, but that would prove to be the final bucket for the Chargers, with Franklin Pierce netting one more to take a four point, 33-29, lead into the locker room.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·        Franklin Pierce came out of the break to score four points in the final 42 seconds of the half to build its lead to eight, 37-29.

·        New Haven answered with five straight of their own, the first three on a long range shot from Perry and the last two on a dunk from Majur Majak (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./).

·        Three minutes later, the Chargers would tie the score for the second time, this time at 39-39 with Thomas hit another three pointer, the last three points of another 5-0 run for the Blue and Gold.

·        Another Majak dunk followed a minute later to pull the Chargers within a point, 42-41, but the Ravens responded by scoring 17 of the next 24 points to take the first double digit lead of the afternoon at 59-48 with 9:18 remaining.

·        The Ravens would build their lead to as much as 14 points with eight minutes remaining, using another 5-0 run.

·        After a three pointer from the Ravens Traore gave them a 13 point lead with 2:39 remaining, the Chargers began to mount their comeback, cutting the deficit into single digits but could get only as close as five which came on a pair of free throws from Lane.