WEST HAVEN, Conn. – In the final home game of the calendar year, freshman Najimi George (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) drained a career-high 18 points to lead the New Haven men's basketball team to a 75-64 win over the visiting Wilmington Wildcats. With the win, New Haven improves to 6-4 on the season.

George was one of three Chargers to finish in double figures with redshirt-sophomore Ethan Simmon (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen) adding a baker's dozen 13 and sophomore Jah'likai King chipping in 10. Of the three leading scorers, Simmon led the shooting efforts as he finished 6-of-9 from the field with one three pointer.

Half of George's team-high 18 came at the free throw line where he finished 9-of-10, while adding four field goals, one of which was a three pointer. Following the three in double figures was senior Tarese Morse (Springfield, Mass./Springfield) with nine, junior Javel Cherry (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) with eight and senior Mohamed Traore (Hyde Park, Mass./Matignon) with seven, the second two of which came off the bench.

As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 23-of-51 from the field for a 45.1 percent effort, with seven of the 23 field goals coming from outside the three point arc. After finishing without a free throw attempt in the opening half, the Chargers had 27 attempts at the line in the second half, connecting on 22 of those attempts, led by George's nine. Morse finished a perfect 3-of-3 at the line while also going perfect in his three field goal attempts to equal his nine points.

New Haven also won the battle of the boards with a 39-30 advantage, led by Simmon who pulled down eight boards. All but one of the 10 players who saw time in the game finished with at least one rebound, with Kyle Kearson (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) coming off the bench to follow Simmon with eight.

FIRST HALF NOTES

·        The Chargers would strike first with Najimi George (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) connecting on the opening possession just 17 seconds off the opening tip. Wilmington answered right back on its opening possession with that basket tipping off six straight leading to the Wildcats first lead of the day.

·        George would strike again to break that Wilmington rally as he drained a second-chance three pointer four minutes into the action. This time around the George basket began a New Haven rally as the Chargers scored seven straight to take a 9-6 lead.

·        After the Wildcats knotted the score at nine, the Chargers would strike again from outside the arc, this time around from King off a pass from Simmon.

·        After regaining the lead with 15:41 to play in the opening half, the Chargers would hold on to that advantage until the eight minute mark, despite three ties in that stretch.

·        The lead change that provided the visiting team with its second lead of the day came during a 9-0 rally for the Wildcats, resulting in the largest lead for either team, six, 23-17.

·        New Haven would answer that run by Wilmington by closing out the half scoring 16 of the final 21 points of the half to take a 33-28 lead into the intermission.

·        Cherry was the one to break that Wilmington rally as he drained a three pointer with 5:50 remaining in the half. He would add one more before the buzzer, while New Haven closed out the opening half scoring the final six points on buckets from George, Ugo Nwachukwu (Imo State, Nigeria/Springfield Commonwealth Academy) and Simmon.

·        At the break with was George who led the Chargers and all players in the game as he finished one shy of double figures on 4-of-8 shooting with one of those from beyond the arc for nine points.

SECOND HALF NOTES

·        Just like the off of the opening tip, the Chargers scored first in the second half, putting up back-to-back baskets before Wilmington scored their first points of the half from outside the arc.

·        Following that Wildcats bucket, the Chargers would score 10 of the next 16 points to open up their first double figure lead courtesy of a Simmon three with 14:29 to play. The Wildcats would score the next basket but that was the final time they would see that deficit under double figures.

·        New Haven answered that Wilmington basket with seven unanswered to open the lead up to 15 with 12:45 to play.

·        Despite scoring just one field goal over the next seven minutes, the Chargers never allowed Wilmington closer than 11 points with the help of a pair of perfect trips to the line from King and George.

·        Simmon scored back-to-back unanswered buckets for the Chargers to regain a 17 point lead, with the second of those at 4:43 being the final bucket of the night for the Blue and Gold.

·        The final 12 points of the game for New Haven came at the free throw line, which twice led to the Chargers largest lead of the game of 17.

·        Eight different players found the basket for the Chargers in the second half, led by Morse and George who each finished with nine points, while Simmon and King followed with seven.

UP NEXT

Off to some fun in the sun for the New Haven men's basketball team as its next two games will come in the Sunshine State over the weekend as part of the Mocs Holiday Classic. The two-game, two-day tournament at the George W. Jenkins Field House will begin on Saturday, December 21, with an early evening match-up against the Barry Buccaneers. The Chargers will then take on the host Florida Southern on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.