WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Led by a pair of players with 13 points, the New Haven men's basketball team dropped the final game in a three-game homestand at the hands of the Franklin Pierce Ravens 72-64. With the decision, New Haven falls to 9-10 on the season and 5-7 in the Northeast-10 Conference.

It was the underclassmen leading the way on Saturday afternoon with sophomore Jah'likai King and freshman Najimi George (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) leading a trio of players in double figures with 13 points apiece. Of the pair, George led the way from the floor as he connected on 6-of-10 from the field with a three pointer among the mix.

Rounding out the leading scorers was Seth Sharif-Brown (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) who came off the bench to add 10 points while nine different players added at least one point on the afternoon. Following the trio of double figure scorers was Tristian Jeffries (Hillside, N.J./Saint Thomas Aquinas) with eight points and both Ugo Nwachukwu (Imo State, Nigeria/Springfield Commonwealth Academy) and Javel Cherry (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) who finished with a half dozen each.

As a team, New Haven closed out the game shooting 37.7 percent from the field, connecting on 23-of-61 field goal attempts, including a 9-of-39 effort from outside the three point arc. The Chargers also added nine points at the free throw line, which came on 14 attempts.

New Haven did win the battle of the boards, closing out the game with a 39-32 advantage in the rebounding battle, led by Nwachukwu who finished with nine rebounds and King who followed with six. The Chargers also finished with 17 assists among their 23 field goals, with Ethan Simmon (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph Metuchen) and King leading the way with six and five, respectively.

FIRST HALF NOTES

·         Franklin Pierce opened up the game with the first four points of the day and never looked back as they wouldn't relinquish that lead or even allow a deadlock in the scoring column throughout the full 40 minutes of action.

·         New Haven broke into the scoring column nearly two minutes into the action with a second chance opportunity from Nwachukwu.

·         After the Ravens jumped ahead by five following that opening bucket, Cherry looked to spark the offense with a bucket from outside the arc to cut the deficit to two.

·         Cherry struck again from long range just over four minutes into the action to cut the deficit to a single point, however the Ravens had an answer for nearly every time the Chargers looked to break out.

·         After the Chargers pulled within a pair just before the midway point of the half, the Ravens responded by scoring seven straight to pull ahead by nine and eventually extend that lead into double digits.

·         The Ravens largest lead of the half came with 5:22 remaining before the break at 13, with New Haven able to pull within single digits just before the final minute.
Franklin Pierce would have the final word in the half, taking a 10 point lead into the locker room at the break.

SECOND HALF NOTES

·         The Chargers looked to mount a second half comeback early in the period, getting as close as one possession but would manage to get no closer.

·         Franklin Pierce answered that early rally by scoring eight of the next nine points to extend the lead back to nine at the midway point.

·         New Haven again looked to flip the script, pulling within three on three different occasions, the first with 6:32 remaining and the second with just under five minutes remaining. In the first instance it was a three point play from Syrus Grisby (Oklahoma City, Okla./Luther) that cut the lead to three, while George would provide the buckets on the remaining two occasions.

·         The Ravens answered right back to that second George basket by scoring six straight to regain a nine point lead, from which New Haven was only able to get as close as six in the final minute as Franklin Pierce secure the win at the free throw line where they closed out the game 17-of-29 in total.

UP NEXT

After spending the last week and a half at home, the New Haven men's basketball team will head on the road for its next game with a trip to Manchester, N.H. to take on the Southern New Hampshire Penmen on Tuesday, January 28. Opening tip from the Stan Spirou Field House is slated for 7:30 p.m. with all of the action available on NE10 Now on Flo College.