NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The tough night at the office had come to an end when University of New Haven men's basketball coach Ted Hotaling and the unquestioned leader of his current team walked off the court inside Moore Field House together.
Down by 26 points at halftime to rival Southern Connecticut State was not how things were supposed to go when Hotaling, senior forward Davontrey Thomas (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) and the Chargers made the short trip to meet up with the Owls.
New Haven played much better in the second half but it wasn't enough to prevent the rival Owls from winning 75-60 on Wednesday night.
With so many key players gone from the Elite Eight team, there are times when small victories need to be measured regardless of what the scoreboard might say.
"We showed some fight, some integrity, some toughness and we just try to get better every day," Thomas said. "I just try to lead them the best that I can by being a sponge my first four years. It is pretty fun I was the "young guy" so I am the older guy. It is a change but I am having fun leading the guys."
Hotaling knew things would be tougher for Thomas this season with unproven players replacing the veterans who helped the Chargers go on the magical postseason run.
There isn't a player that he would rather share the leadership responsibilities with than Thomas.
"He has been a great player here and beyond that he has been an unbelievable person, the kind of guy to build a program with, a great teammate," Hotaling said of Thomas. "We love having him in our program. It has been a different role for him this year. We were talking about that coming off the floor, some times it is very easy to lead as a player or a coach when things are going your way. This is a great challenge for both of us to lead when things aren't going your way. We made a pact when we were coming off the court that we are going to show what our leadership was like here, not just tonight but in the next couple of days so we can have a good chance to win on Saturday."
Back-to-back baskets by Ethan Simmon (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen) and Kyle Kearson (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) helped New Haven cut a lead that was as big as 17 points to 12. However, Mason Williams got free for a pair of 3-pointers and added another after a miss by New Haven and then an offensive rebound by the Owls. Another Williams 3-pointer and a pair of fast-break layups pushed the lead to 21. SCSU led 47-21 at halftime.
"We got it to a manageable 12 points and we had some blown coverages, a turnover led to a 3, defensive transition to a 3 and it became unmanageable after that," Hotaling said.
Freshman Jah'Likai King (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) finished with 17 points and six rebounds for the Chargers with most of his production coming in the second half.
Thomas and Tyler Saint-Furcy (Inwood, N.Y./Lawrence Woodmere Academy) added 10 points each for New Haven (8-16, 5-13 in the Northeast-10).
Williams had 19 points including five of the Owls' 10 3-pointers.
Cherif Diarra had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Christian Joe chipped in with 11 points, five assists and five steals as Southern Connecticut improved to 17-7, 11-7 in the Northeast-10 after its fifth win in a row.
