ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – Despite a major second half defensive effort and outscoring Dominican 42-30 over the final 20 minutes, the New Haven men's basketball team was unable to erase its halftime deficit, droppings its fourth-straight game 82-77.
It was a major defensive effort for the Chargers, holding Dominican 16 points under their season average and well under their 16.8 points per game average per win.
Overall, it was a trio of Chargers in double figures for the Blue and Gold, led by junior transfer guard Keith Warren (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) who finished with a career-high 27 points, connecting on 8-of-12 from the field. Among those eight field goals were five from beyond the three point arc, while Warren also went 6-of-8 effort at the free throw line.
Joining Warren in the scoring column was freshman Jah'Likai King (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) who finished with 16 points, while senior Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) finished with 13. Combined, King and Thomas saw 15 of their points come from the free throw line as King went 8-of-10 and Thomas 7-of-8, while each finished with a pair of three pointers.
Sophomore Joshua Hopson (Jersey City, N.J./MacDuffie School) led New Haven on the boards with a season-high for all players with 13 rebounds, adding to that four points, an assist and a pair of blocks. Freshman Ethan Simmon (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen) and junior transfer Tarese Morse (Springfield, Mass./Springfield) finished with seven and eight points, respectively. Following Hopson in the rebounding efforts was King as he finished one board shy of a double double while adding three assists and four steals, with both of those numbers leading the team.
As a group, the Chargers finished the game shooting 39.3 percent from the field, connecting on 22-of-56 overall, including 10-of-27 from beyond the three point arc. The Chargers capitalized at the free throw line, where they took advantage of the 20 fouls committed by Dominican to go 23-of-30 at the stripe.
New Haven will jump right back into conference play when they begin a three-game stretch of NE10 games when they take the court on Wednesday, November 29 against Assumption. The Chargers and Greyhounds are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. opening tip at Laska Gymnasium, in what is the second game of a doubleheader with the women's team. All of the action in the league battle can be seen live on NE10Now.tv.
