WORCESTER, Mass. – With four of its starting five in double figures, the New Haven men's basketball team came up just short in its attempt at a home-and-home sweep, dropping the road end against Assumption 65-64 on Saturday at Laska Gymnasium. With the loss, the Chargers fall to 15-8 overall and 12-6 in the Northeast-10.

Leading all of the Chargers scoring was graduate student Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) who finished with 17 points, going 5-of-12 from the field with a three pointer, while also a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line. He also added seven boards as the Chargers led the rebounding battle 34-31.

Joining him in double figures among the starting five was Victor Olawoye (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial High School) with 14 points, Ty Perry (Boston, Mass./Brighton) with a baker's dozen 13 and junior Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) who finished with an even dozen. All four of the leading scorers finished with five field goals, with Olawoye leading the Chargers from outside the arc with three of his five field goals from outside the arc. The final starter for New Haven, Majur Majak (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./), led the Blue and Gold in the rebounding battle with nine boards.

As a team, New Haven finished the game with 23 field goals in 56 attempts for a 41.1% average. Olawoye's trio of three's was part of five total for New Haven, who also added 13 points, on 17 attempts at the free throw line.

The Chargers will return to West Haven next time they take the court, stepping aside from NE10 play when they host the Staten Island Dolphins at Charger Gymnasium on Wednesday, February 15. Tipoff in the non-conference contest is set for 7:30 p.m. following the women's game, with all of the action available on the Charger Sports Network on NE10 NOW.

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·        Coming off of winning the opening tip, New Haven as the first to put points on the board with Majak scoring his one and only field goal, a second chance layup that provided the early UNH lead.

·        The Greyhounds would answer however, opening their scoring with a three pointer for the first lead change and going on to score nine unanswered to take a 9-2 lead just four minutes into the action.

·        Olawoye was able to temper that Assumption run with a second chance bucket, but the Greyhounds weren't going to let up, opening their first double digit lead at 14-4 with 14:51 remaining in the period.

·        The teams would trade points for the next three minutes with New Haven able to get as close as six with 11:30 to play thanks to a three pointer from Lane.

·        The Greyhounds answered by scoring five straight to regain a double digit lead.

·        New Haven would then answer an 11-point deficit by scoring five straight of their own on a three pointer from Olawoye and a layup from Perry that once again put the deficit at six, 29-23, with 6:40 remaining before the intermission.

·        Facing a seven point deficit with 4:08 remaining the Charger made a late push in the half, using a 10-2 rally over three minutes to regain a one point lead, 36-35, with 1:25 remaining.

·        Only one more bucket would come in the final 85 seconds of the half, that coming with just three seconds remaining and in favor of the Greyhounds as they took the 37-36 lead into the halftime break.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·        New Haven came out of the break with another lead change in mind, this time thanks to a three pointer from Olawoye 44 seconds into the action.

·        That bucket was the only one for either team until the 15:40 mark when the Greyhounds knotted the score at 39 and when on to take a 44-39 lead using a quick 7-0 run.

·        That five point lead, at the 13:04 mark, would be the largest for either team in the second half, with the Greyhounds matching that only one other time late in the period.

·        New Haven answered that five point deficit with their one 8-0 run that resulted in a 49-46 lead before Assumption knotted the game at 49 with a three of their own.

·        The Chargers would end up tying the score on two more occasions, at 51 and 54, before Assumption was able to take its second five point lead with 2:14 remaining.

·        The Blue and Gold then answered that five point deficit by scoring seven straight, four at the free throw line and a driving layup from Perry that resulted in a 64-63 UNH lead with 38 seconds remaining.

·        Assumption answered with a layup with 18 seconds remaining and after a Charger turnover the Greyhounds had an opportunity to lock in the victory at the line but missed the front end of the one-and-one opportunity. New Haven would gather the rebound but couldn't go the distance in the last second to get a quality look at the hoop.