ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. – The New Haven men's basketball team led by no more than four in the final three minutes of the game and maintained that lead with an 11-of-14 effort at the free throw line to secure a 79-77 road win at Molloy on Saturday afternoon. With the win, New Haven evens its overall record at 3-3 on the season.

Leading the Chargers in the afternoon matinee was senior transfer forward Tarese Morse (Springfield, Mass./Springfield) who led a trio of players in double figures with 14 points, connecting on 4-of-5 from the field and 6-of-9 at the free throw line. Just behind Morse was Tristian Jeffries (Hillside, N.J./Saint Thomas Aquinas) with a baker's dozen 13 points, also going 6-of-9 at the line and adding to that a 3-of-6 effort from the field with a three pointer. Rounding out the leading scores was Ugo Nwachukwu (Imo State, Nigeria/Springfield Commonwealth Academy) who came off the bench to finish with 11 points.

Sophomore guard Jah'likai King was one of three players to finish with seven points, with six of those coming on a pair of three pointers. In addition, he added a game-high eight assists, a steal and a pair of blocks. His eight assists were part of 19 total on 23 made field goals for the team.

Overall for the game, New Haven shot 23-of-57 for a 40.4 percent effort with nine of the 23 field goals coming from outside the three point arc. The Chargers also added 24 points at the free throw line, those coming on 34 attempts with Najimi George (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) following Morse and Jeffries in leading at the line as he went 5-of-6 and finished the day with nine points overall.

The Charger did trail Molloy in the battle of the boards with the Lions closing out the game with a slim 38-37 lead. King added to his seven points and eight assists with a team-high 11 rebounds as all but one of the 11 players who saw time finished with at least one rebound. New Haven did capitalize on 12 offensive rebounds, able to turn those into 14 second chance points compared to just nine for Molloy.

FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·        The Chargers got off to a quick start, scoring the first points on a three pointer from Jeffries and extended that to an 11-0 streak to kick off the competition. Defensively, New Haven held the Lions off the board for just over three minutes while they build the early double digit lead.

·        Despite those first two points for Molloy, the Blue and Gold extended their lead to 15 with another six unanswered points as a Mose layup with 15:10 to play in the half forced a timeout from the home team.

·        After having that lead cut back to 10, the Chargers re-extended it to 15 and never saw it fall into single digits until the six minute mark, however the Lions would get no closer than seven in the opening half.

·        With the Lions cutting that lead to seven with four minutes before the break, the Chargers answered by scoring four straight to regain a double digit advantage thanks to a fastbreak dunk from Nwachukwu with 2:47 remaining.

·        The Chargers would match that 11-point differential with 27 seconds remaining on another fastbreak bucket from Nwachukwu, however the Lions would have the final word in the half with a layup with three seconds remaining to put the halftime score at 38-29.

·        Seven different Chargers would get in on the first half scoring, led by Nwachukwu who finished with eight points, going 3-of-5 from the field with a three pointer. King closed out the opening half with six of his eight assists, while also pulling down five boards.

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

·        Coming out of the break, the Lions would strike first unlike the opening half with a tip-in putback the first points of the half. The Chargers answered back on their first possession with a pair at the free throw line from Ethan Simmon (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen).

·        Those two points at the line from Simmon were the only for the Chargers until the 16:15 mark as the Lions rattled off 10 unanswered and took their first lead of the game only to have a three pointer from King flip the score back in favor of the road team.

·        Just 11 seconds after that three pointer from King, the Lions drilled one of their own to take the lead back for yet another short lived time as Nwachukwu added a third straight three pointer which was followed by a fast break layup from Simmon that gave New Haven a 48-44 lead with 15 minutes to play.

·        Molloy answered those four straight UNH points with six straight of their own on a pair of three pointers to take a 50-48 lead.

·        A three pointer from Mohammed Traore swapped the lead once again and sparked a 7-0 New Haven rally with Traore hitting a pair of three's that sandwiched a free throw from King that all led to a five point lead for the Chargers.

·        The back-and-forth lead-swapping continued as another set of back-to-back three pointers for the Lions gave them a one point lead but it would be the last of the game for the home team.

·        Simmon responded with a three pointer of his own, part of seven straight that led to a 62-56 lead at the eight minute mark.

·        From that point on, New Haven would muster just two field goals, both of which came from Morse, as they closed out the game making 13-of-16 free throws in the final 6:17 to secure the win. The final 11 of those field goals all came in the final 2:31 as the Lions were able to get as close as one down the stretch.

UP NEXT

Following the single non-conference game at Molloy, the Chargers will get right back to work in the Northeast-10 Conference with a Wednesday night visit from the Southern New Hampshire Penmen. The home conference battle is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start, following the women's game, with all of the action from the Jeffery P. Hazell Athletics Center set to air live on NE10 Now on Flo College.