WEST HAVEN -The University of New Haven men’s basketball team defeated the visiting and nationally ranked #13 Bentley University Falcons 70-61 Saturday afternoon. The Chargers improve to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in the Northeast-10 Conference, while the Falcons fall to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in the NE-10.
With the score tied at the half, UNH came out of the break and fell behind quickly. The Falcons took a seven-point lead (40-33) at the 16:32 mark, but the chargers came back at tied the score at 43 with 12:09 remaining. The Chargers would keep in close for the next two minutes, but Bentley would mount another run and take a six-point lead at 9:22. Over the next 4:06 the Chargers went on a 14-1 run and took control of the game with a 59-52 lead with 5:16 remaining. The Falcons scored a three pointer at 4:57 and then scoring would halt for the next three and a half minutes as the teams exchanged turnovers. In the final 1:29 the Chargers went 9-for-11 from the charity stripe as they sealed their third-straight win of the season.
The Chargers opened the first half with an unthinkable 16-0 run in the first 4:20. In the next four minutes and 20 seconds the Falcons went on their own 14-0 run to put themselves right back in the game. The teams exchanged the lead in the final 10 minutes and Robert Jamerson connected on a non-traditional three-point play to close the half and tie the score at 29.
The Chargers shot 40% from the floor, 30% from beyond the arc and 100% from the line in the opening half, while Bentley shot 33.3% from the floor, 20% from downtown and 61.5% from the stripe. D.J. Sackmann led the Chargers with nine first-half points and five rebounds. Bentley out-rebounded the Chargers 21-16 in the first half, including six offensive boards.
Five Chargers scored in double figures in the game; Darryl Greene led UNH with 19 points, Sackman scored 14, Jamerson with a career-high 14 points, Kelvin Jackson scored 12 and Cassius Chaney scored 11. Greene added a team-high four assists and three steals, while Jackson led the team with seven boards.
The Chargers shot 47.2% from the floor, holding Bentley to 32.8%. UNH also shot 38.5% from downtown and 88.2% from the foul line. Although the Falcons held a 4-15 edge in offensive rebounds, UNH held a 29-25 edge in defensive boards.