Junior Raheem May-Thompson led the Skyhawks with 13 points off the bench to go with five rebounds and three blocks. (PHOTO BY Bert Lane) |
Free throw shooting proves the difference in defensive struggle
Both teams finished shooting 32.7-percent (17-for-52) from the field, with Stonehill hitting slightly better from three-point range at 26.1% (6-23), compared to 3-of-15 (20%) for New Haven. However, the Chargers converted 18-of-30 (60%) free-throw attempts, compared to 9-of-18 (50%) for the Skyhawks, on the night.
Junior Ade Barek (London, England) led New Haven with a double-double of 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in 24 minutes, while freshman Eric Anderson (Newark, N.J./Newark Tech) added 12 points, four rebounds, seven blocked shots and two assists. Sophomore Jeffery Adkins, Jr. (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) chipped in nine points and five boards.
Junior Raheem May-Thompson (London, England/Towson (Md.) Catholic) led Stonehill with 13 points off the bench on 5-of-8 shooting, converting 3-of-4 free-throws, to go with five rebounds and three blocks. Senior Patrick Lee (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) added 12 points, hitting 2-of-3 three-pointers, a team-high nine rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Junior Brian Hamor (Schenectady, N.Y./Bishop Gibbons) contributed ten points, three assists and three boards, while classmate Adam Fazzini (Drums, Pa./Crestwood) chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.
Senior Patrick Lee finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and two steals. (PHOTO BY Bert Lane) |
New Haven rebounded from 18.5-percent (5-for-27) shooting in the first half to hit at 48% (12-25) in the second, while Stonehill went from shooting 37% (10-27) in the opening frame to 7-for-25 (28%) over the final 20 minutes. New Haven posted a 42-39 rebounding edge.
Stonehill led by 11 (28-17) at the break, but went scoreless over the opening 4:40 of the second half as New Haven trimmed its deficit to four (28-24) after a conventional three-point play from Barek. Fazzini answered with a three, but the Chargers would cut the gap to a point (33-32) with a pair of free-throws by Anderson with 11:18 remaining.
Hamor drilled a three-pointer and May-Thompson converted a pair of free-throws to push the Stonehill lead back to six (38-32) with 9:36 to play. New Haven forced a tie (38-38) with an Anderson layup with 7:39 on the clock and then took its first lead since early in the game when Adkins answered a Fazzini jumper with a three-pointer (41-40) with 7:03 left.
Hamor drained another three-pointer to put Stonehill back in front (47-46) with 4:50 to go, but two-straight baskets by Barek sent New Haven back on top (50-47) with 3:21 left. After Hamor scored a layup with 2:29 remaining to pull Stonehill within a point (50-49), the Skyhawks would miss its final five shots from the field, as well as a pair of free-throw attempts, the rest of the way while New Haven did enough at the free-throw line to seal its eighth-straight win.
New Haven jumped out to an early four point lead (7-3) after a jumper from Anderson 3:27 into the contest. Stonehill regained the lead (9-7) after a dunk from freshman Jack Cole (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) with 14:04 to play and extended the margin to seven (19-12) when Fazzini split a pair of free-throws with 6:46 left in the half. The Skyhawks pushed the lead to a game-high 11 (26-15) when junior Sam Markle (Bethany, Conn./Saint Thomas More) drilled a three with 2:02 left before the half.
Stonehill (8-4, 5-3 NE-10) is back on action on Saturday when it visits The College of Saint Rose for a Northeast-10 matchup at 3:30 p.m. The Skyhawks return home on Saturday, January 14, to host Le Moyne College at 3:30 p.m. New Haven (10-2, 6-2 NE-10) hosts Merrimack College on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
