GAME DAY INFORMATION DATE: February 24, 2023 LOCATION: Charger Gymnasium West Haven, Conn. GAME DAY LINKS LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

NEWS NEWS ROSTER ROSTER SCHEDULE SCHEDULE STATS STATS GAME NOTES

THE LEAD
The quest for an NE10 title starts today for the men's basketball team as they host the American International Yellow Jackets in an opening round playoff game. Tipoff in the championship opener is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., following the women's game vs Franklin Pierce, with all of the action available on the Charger Sports Network on NE10 NOW.

SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
Heading into its postseason schedule, New Haven continues to rely heavily on its starting five who are all averaging more than 30 minutes per game, with three of the five averaging in double figures and the five combined providing 86% of the total scoring (1,516-of-1,768 total points). Leading the team individually is graduate guard Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) who with his fourth 20+ game of the season in the regular season finale against Saint Anselm took over the team lead, increasing his average to 14.9 ppg, shooting 53.4 percent (143-268) for the season. In addition, Lane leads the team with 96 assists and 41 steals. Following his is senior transfer Ty Perry (Boston, Mass./Brighton) who has scored 20+ in eight games including hitting a career-high of 24 on three occasions. For the season, Perry is averaging 14.6 ppg. Junior Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) rounds out the top three with a 12.7 ppg average, including leading the team from beyond the arc with 62 three pointers. Rounding out the starting five is Victor Olawoye (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial High School) and Majur Majak (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./) who average 9.7 and 7.0 ppg, respectively. Among the five, Majak leads the team and the NE10 with an impressive 60.0 percent (75-of-125) shooting from the field. Majak is also the NE10's leading rebounder (11.4 per game) and shot blocker with 76 stuffed attempts, which also rank him third and second nationally in rebounding and total blocks, respectively.

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
Looking to open up the postseason with its first victory in the month of February, the Yellow Jackets have lost their last seven games, including the second of the year against New Haven back on Feb. 4. With their overall record of 5-23 and 3-17 mark in conference play, the Yellow Jackets closed out the regular season finishing 13th in the conference standings. As a team, AIC is averaging a conference low 65.0 points per game and are being outscored by just over nine points per outing. Individually, Jack Hall leads three Yellow Jackets who average in double figures with his average of 13.6, splitting his scoring evenly with 80 three pointers (second in the NE10) among his 131 total field goals. Joining him in leading the scoring efforts is Justice Ellison (12.9 ppg) and Jalen Jordan (10.4 ppg).

SERIES HISTORY vs THE YELLOW JACKETS

·         New Haven and American International meet for the 64th time in the history of the two programs.

·         One of the most evenly contested series for the Chargers, New Haven holds a slight 33-30 advantage in the previous 63 games.

·         The home-and-home sweep during the regular season this year give the Chargers 10 wins in the last 11 games after splitting the home-and-home series last year.

NE10 TOURNAMENT HISTORY
New Haven makes its 10th appearance in the NE10 Championship since joining the league for the 2008-09 season. This season also represents the sixth straight appearance for the Blue and Gold. Overall, the Chargers hold a 2-1 record in the first round of the Championship and have advanced to the quarterfinals nine times, making semifinal and championship game appearances in 2014, 2019 and 2020. New Haven has advanced to the quarterfinals in each of its last six appearances, last season earn a first round no-contest win against Saint Michael's. Overall, the Chargers are 9-9 in NE10 Championship play.

THIS SEASON VS THE YELLOW JACKETS
Without much doubt, the Chargers swept the home-and-home series against the Yellow Jackets during the regular season, outscoring AIC by an average of 17.5 points per game. Offensively, New Haven picked up 81 points in the first game in Springfield, while finishing with 62 in the home win earlier this month. Defensively, the Chargers held AIC to 54 points in both game, limiting its shooting to 34.5 percent overall and 29 percent from outside the arc. Individually, New Haven was led by Quashawn Lane (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Catholic Academy) who averaged 14.0 ppg across the two contests, followed by Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) (13.5 ppg) and Victory Olawoye (11.5 ppg). In the two games combined, Thomas and freshman Justin Hendrick (Valley Stream, N.Y./St. Francis) combined for 14 of 18 three pointers converted by the Chargers.

NEXT TIME OUT
A potential date with crosstown rival Southern Connecticut State University looms for the Chargers. With a win in today's postseason opener against the Yellow Jackets, New Haven would advance to the NE10 quarterfinal round to face the winner of the first round matchup between No. 5 Southern Connecticut and No. 12 Saint Rose. Quarterfinal action is scheduled for Sunday, February 26. If New Haven were to advance through tonight's first round game, the Chargers would host that quarterfinal game on Sunday, with tip-off set for 3:00 p.m. All of the postseason playoff action be available live on NE10 NOW.