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Purple Knights' Three-Game Win Streak Snapped, New Haven Pulls Away Late

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Created on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 04:36

Written by George Commo

New Haven scored its final nine points on free throws to pull away for a 75-65 Northeast-10 Win

Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information

COLCHESTER - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team trailed by four points with a little more than four minutes remaining on Tuesday before the University of New Haven scored its final nine points on free throws to pull away for a 75-65 Northeast-10 Conference win at the Ross Sports Center.

The Purple Knights had their three-game winning streak snapped in slipping to 7-9 overall and 6-6 in the league, while the Chargers are 12-4 and 8-4. Seven of the Purple and Gold's losses have come by 10 points or less.

Sophomore Mike Holton Jr. (Portland, Ore./The Winchendon School) notched game highs of 26 points and six assists for the hosts, shooting 4-of-9 from three-point range, while senior Tom Ward (Brighton, East Sussex, England/Saint Francis [N.Y.]) was 5-for-7 from beyond the arc for 16 points. Freshman Corey Crawford (Dover, Del./The Phelps School) added seven points, classmate James Cambronne (De Bary, Fla./The Winchendon School) had three blocks, and junior Derek Knutty (Rocklin, Calif./Whitney) grabbed six rebounds. Each team committed only six turnovers and knocked down 11 three-pointers.

Junior Jeremy Williams (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) and freshman Eric Anderson (Newark, N.J./Newark Tech) paced New Haven with 18 points apiece, as Williams went 5-of-8 from deep. Sophomore Justin Exum (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) scored 14 points, canning four triples.

Holton's jumper 48 seconds into the second stanza gave the Purple Knights a 34-33 edge, their first lead since the opening half, before four ties ensued by 9:33, when Crawford knocked down a jumper to force a 46-all score. After the Chargers pushed their lead out to six, Holton drained a trey at 6:25, and a Holton free throw produced a 59-55 margin with 4:32 remaining. From there, New Haven scored only two more field goals, going 11-of-12 on free throws down the stretch. Holton canned a triple at 1:04 to keep his team within six, at 70-64, but the next five points in the game were freebies off the hands of Charger players.

The teams hit a combined seven three-pointers in the opening 5:13 of the game, as the Purple Knights twice led by three, including at 11-8 on junior Travis Warech's (Pine Brook, N.J./Montville) three-pointer. New Haven scored the next eight points, taking the first of five five-point leads before the half. Saint Michael's drew within 24-23 on a Holton three-point play with 8:07 to go, but the Chargers took a 33-29 advantage into the locker room on the strength of seven threes. The Purple Knights hit six.

Saint Michael's hits the road on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. contest at the College of Saint Rose.