GAME DAY INFORMATION |
DATE: November 15, 2023
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LOCATION: Bloomfield College Gym | Bloomfield, N.J. |
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GAME DAY LINKS |
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO |
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THE LEAD
Continuing a four-game road trip to open up the 2023-24 season, New Haven returns to action on Wednesday with one more test before opening league play when they travel to Bloomfield.
SCOUTING NEW HAVEN
Two games into the season and youth has been the name of the game for the Chargers with two of the top three scorers through opening weekend playing their first seasons of collegiate ball. Leading the way is Jah'Likai King (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) who put on a scoring clinic in his collegiate debut when he drained 35 points, going 14-of-21 from the field against Post. Next up on the rookie train was Ethan Simmon (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen) who redshirt last season and it has paid off as he scored in double figures in both of the Chargers games, putting up 17 in the opener and following it up with 11 the next day against Wilmington. Returning leader Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) was certainly not someone to look past as he averaged 15 points in the first two games, including a season-high 18 in the second game against Wilmington. Two other highlights came on the defensive end where Tyler Saint-Furcy (Inwood, N.Y./Lawrence Woodmere Academy) and Jojo Lingisi-Ombongo (Hamilton, Ontario/St. Thomas More) finished with five and six steals respectively in the two opening games. Despite the 1-1 record, the Chargers are outscoring their opponents by a 3.5 points per game average but are struggling on the rebounding end where their opponents are pulling down eight boards more than the Chargers.
SCOUTING BLOOMFIELD
Picked to finish fifth in the North Division according to a poll of the CACC head coaches, Bloomfield also enters Wednesday night with a 1-1 record in two games at the Saint Michael's Tipoff Tournament. The Bears opened up the season with a win over Saint Michael's before dropping an overtime decision to Assumption. Through those two games, the Bears are led by a pair of red-shirt sophomore guards Al Fatir Conner and Izaiah Poole who are averaging 15.5 and 13.5 points per game, respectively. Defensively, the Bears rely on 6-8 junior forward Edward Ngene who grabbed 24 rebounds combined in the first two games, while swatting away 10 of his opponents shots. Asa team, the Bears are just outscoring their opponents with an average of 70.5 points per game, while holding opponents to 69 ppg. With the support of Ngene underneath the hoop, the Bears are outrebounding their opponents by nine boards per game, hauling in an average of 45 rebounds.
SERIES HISTORY vs BLOOMFIELD
· New Haven and Bloomfield meet for the 14th time in the history of the two programs, with the all-time series dating back to the 1964-65 season.
· Overall, New Haven holds a 9-4 record in the previous 13 meetings.
· New Haven opened the series with three-straight wins before the Bears broke through for the first time in 1970-71.
· In most recent memory, the Chargers have won the last four meetings, including a 74-66 decision last season in West Haven.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Chargers will close out its four-game season-opening road trip with a weekend visit to the Bay State to take on the Bentley Falcons in what will be the NE10 opener for both teams. Opening tip in the NE10 battle is slated for 1:30 p.m. at the Dana Center, with all of the action available live on NE10Now.tv.
