WEST HAVEN, Conn. – In a back-and-forth battle that saw 15 ties and 14 lead changes and needed an extra five minutes of time, the New Haven men's basketball team prevailed with an 84-80 overtime thriller to guarantee a regular season split against the visiting Assumption Greyhounds on Wednesday night at the Jeffery P. Hazell Athletics Center. With the win, New Haven evens its overall record at 9-9 while improving its Northeast-10 Conference record to 5-6.

Leading four Chargers in double figures was sophomore guard Jah'likai King who finished with 20 points, while Ugo Nwachukwu (Imo State, Nigeria/Springfield Commonwealth Academy) and Seth Sharif-Brown (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) followed just behind with 18. Rounding out the leaders was Ethan Simmon (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen) with a dozen. Among all four leading scorers, Nwachukwu led the way, connecting on 7-of-8 from the field, including a three pointer, while going 3-of-4 from the free throw line. He also led all players in the game with 10 rebounds to complete his first double double of the season.

Both King and Sharif-Brown finished the game connecting on half of their 12 field goal attempts, with Sharif-Brown converting four from outside the three point arc and King adding a pair of three pointers. King capitalized at the free throw line where he finished 8-of-9.

As a team, New Haven closed out the night shooting 54.5 percent, converting 30 field goals among 55 attempts. Among the 30 field goals were nine from outside the three point arc, while the Chargers added 15 points in 21 trips to the free throw line. Nwachukwu's 10 rebounds were part of 34 total for the Chargers as the two teams finished in a deadlock in the rebounding battle.

FIRST HALF NOTES

·        After both teams came up empty in their first attempts of the night, King would be the first two add points to the board with a perfect trip to the free throw line just over a minute into the action.

·        The seesaw battle started right out of the gate as the two teams saw five ties in the first eight minutes of the game with the last one in that stretch coming at 11-11. New Haven would flip the score in their favor following that deadlock and hold onto that lead for five minutes before Assumption knotted things up again at 19-19.

·        Following another series of ties at 22, 24 and 26, the Greyhounds looked to build out a lead, extending their advantage out to the largest of the half for either squad at 32-26, with 3:48 remaining before the break.

·        New Haven answered by outscoring Assumption 9-4 over the final four minutes to cut the deficit down to one point at the break, with King closing out the scoring for the half the same way he opened the scoring, with a pair of free throws.

SECOND HALF NOTES

·        Coming out of the break, the Greyhounds were the first to score with a second chance jumper extending the visitor's lead to three points early.

·        New Haven would turn to Simmon to start its scoring, quickly knotting the score 36 seconds later with a shot from beyond the arc.

·        After another three pointer, this time from Najimi George (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral), tied the score at 41, the Greyhounds answered with one of their own as they took a lead they would hold on to for just under the next three minutes.

·        Another trio of ties would follow at 50, 52 and 59 before New Haven broke out to its largest lead of the night that came with four minutes remaining in regulation. That lead came in the midst of a six minute stretch where New Haven maintained the advantage on the scoreboard.

·        With 95 seconds remaining the Greyhounds turned to its leading scorer Njavan Stewart who drained a long distance three pointer to flip the score in their favor 72-71.

·        On the opposite end, Sharif-Brown looked to flip it back in favor of New Haven with a trip the free throw line, but split the attempts and knotted the score at 72.

·        Both teams would have an attempt at taking the lead for good in the final seconds but came up empty forcing the extra period.

OVERTIME NOTES

·        Coming out of the break following regulation, the Greyhounds struck first with a three pointer and maintained that lead for the first three minutes until Nwachukwu converted on a second chance opportunity to put New Haven ahead 81-80.

·        Following a pair of attempts to regain the lead by the Greyhounds, Assumption was forced to put New Haven at the line where King converted a pair to extend the Chargers lead to three.

·        After a long distance three from Stewart went off the front of the rim, Sharif-Brown iced the victory with four seconds remaining, converting the first of two free throws to put the Blue and Gold up four 84-80.

UP NEXT

New Haven closes out a three-game homestand on Saturday afternoon, January 25, when they welcome the Franklin Pierce Ravens to the Jeffery P. Hazell Athletics Center as the Blue and Gold look for a season sweep of the home-and-home series. Opening tip between the Chargers and Ravens is set for 3:30 p.m., following the women's game, with all of the action available live on NE10 Now on Flo College.