WEST HAVEN, Conn. – With a season- and game-best 27 points sophomore Jah'Likai King (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) led the New Haven men's basketball team to a home win over the visiting Saint Michael's Purple Knights 80-70 on Saturday afternoon at the Jeffery P. Hazell Athletics Center. With the win, New Haven improves to 8-9 on the season and 4-6 in the Northeast-10 Conference.

King's 27 points is the first time this season the guard has surpassed the 25-point mark while it is the ninth time in his career with the Blue and Gold. It is also the second-straight game with 20+ and the third time in the last five games as he has scored in double digit in the last five games and nine of the last 10. King's27 points came on 8-of-14 from the field, including a pair of three pointers, while he was also a perfect 9-of-9 at the free throw line.

Joining the sophomore guard in leading the scoring was Tristian Jeffries (Hillside, N.J./Saint Thomas Aquinas) and Ethan Simmon (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen) who finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Along with King, both Jeffries and Simmon capitalized at the free throw line as they each finished 5-of-6 while Simmon added a pair of three pointers and Jeffries finished 3-of-6 from the field with one of those a three pointer.

As a team, New Haven finished the game shooting 45.6 percent from the field, connecting on 26-of-57 field goal attempts, including nine from long range, with six different players combining for the nine three's. Additionally, the Chargers finished 19-of-24 at the free throw line for 79.2 percent. The Purple Knights did manage to win the battle of the boards with a 37-33 margin. Leading the rebounding efforts for New Haven was Ugo Nwachukwu (Imo State, Nigeria/Springfield Commonwealth Academy) who finished with seven boards.

FIRST HALF NOTES

·         Saint Michael's came out of the gates scoring first, but the teams would trade leads twice more before the Purple Knights took a lead they would hold onto for a four minute stretch.

·         A three pointer from Simmon with 13:02 to play before the break would flip the script back in favor of New Haven at 12-10 with the Purple Knights managing to tie the score on three occasions over the next three minutes.

·         With the score knotted at 16 at the midway point of the half, New Haven began an 18-3 run that ended with a 15 point lead for the Chargers with a perfect 3-of-3 showing at the line from King providing that margin.

·         King would follow those free throws up with a three pointer on the Chargers next trip down the court to extend his teams lead to its largest of the half of 16, 37-21.

·         After a three pointer from the Purple Knights, King would have the final say in the half with a layup off an assist from Seth Sharif-Brown (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) to put the halftime margin at 39-24.

·         Overall for the half, King led all players in the game as the only player in double figures as he finished with 14 points on 3-of-7 shooting and 7-of-7 at the free throw line.

SECOND HALF NOTES

·         New Haven would maintain its double figure lead through the first 11 minutes of the second half, building the advantage to as much as 17 on a King three pointer four minutes into the period.

·         That three pointer from King was part of a scoring streak for the sophomore guard where he scored 11 straight points for the Chargers. In what was a six-minute stretch for King, the Newburgh, N.Y. native was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field.

·         Jeffries would be the Charger to break up the King rally when he converted a layup at the 11:15 mark.

·         A three pointer from Javel Cherry (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) nearly 90 seconds later re-extended the Chargers lead to 16 before the Purple Knights began a late rally with 10 unanswered points to break into single digits, getting as close as four down the stretch.

·         After a three pointer from Saint Michael's cut New Haven's lead to four, the Chargers broke the sluggishness with a pair of free throws from King and a layup from Sharif-Brown that put the lead back at seven.

·         With exactly two minutes to play, Nwachukwu put a stamp on the win when he drained a corner three pointer thanks to an assist from Mohamed Traore (Hyde Park, Mass./Matignon) that gave New Haven a 72-64 lead and forced the Purple Knights to call for time.

·         With all of its scoring in the final two minutes coming at the free throw line, going a perfect 8-of-8, New Haven secured the victory, extending its leads back to double digits with a 2-of-2 effort at the line from Simmon that provided the final scoring for either team.

UP NEXT

The Chargers continue their season-long three-game homestand on Wednesday night when they host the Assumption Greyhounds to begin the second venture through the Northeast-10 Conference slate. The first meeting between the two squads came back in November and fell in favor of the Greyhounds who took the 69-59 win on their home court. Opening tip in the conference clash is slated for 7:30 p.m., following the women's game, with all of the action available live on NE10 Now on Flo College.