Men's basketball falls short at New Haven
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut - The American International College men's basketball team fell 62-54 to the University of New Haven in a Northeast-10 Conference matchup on Saturday, February 4.
AIC is now 5-18 on the year with a 3-12 NE10 mark.
Justice Ellison hit the game's first field goal just shy of the three-minute mark as both offenses struggled early. Tied 2-2 with nearly five minutes gone, Jack Hall knocked in a three, and then another after Justin Hendrick hit one for the Chargers. Hall added a layup to put AIC ahead 10-5, but the Chargers found their offense and tied the game 12-12 just shy of the midpoint of the frame.
A ten-point run saw the Chargers lead for the first time, 19-12, before Jalen Jordan put in a jumper, but the Chargers added a three to go up eight. AIC began to chip away as Ellison hit a three of his own and Aguibou Balde drained a layup through contact, scoring the free throw as well to get AIC within two. The Chargers expanded the lead back to six briefly, but threes down the stretch by Hall and Kanye Wavezwa, the latter at the buzzer, had AIC go to the locker room down just 29-27.
New Haven scored the first four points out of the break, but Hall hit a triple to keep it close. Davontrey Thomas answered with a deep shot for New Haven, and the teams traded buckets down to the midpoint of the half, with New Haven leading 42-39 after a Hall jumper at 9:53.
From there, the Chargers went on an eight-point run, and that sealed the game; they built the lead to as much as 14 points, and AIC never got closer than down eight at the very end as the Chargers took the game.
Ellison led AIC with 19 points and eight boards, while Hall added 18 points. Jordan rounded out the top three for AIC with 11.
The team returns to action Tuesday, February 7 at Saint Anselm College at 7:30 p.m.