WEST HAVEN, Conn. The American International College men's basketball team hung on in a defensive battle over the University of New Haven Wednesday night in Northeast-10 Conference action at Charger Gym, 56-53.
With the win, AIC improves to 9-12 overall and 5-10 in league play, while with the loss New Haven falls to 6-15 and 3-12 in NE-10 tilts.
For the second straight game, the Yellow Jackets needed all 40 minutes of play to pull out the win. Trailing by two with 3:12 left on the clock, AIC ended the game on an 8-2 run that saw the Jackets go 6-6 from the free throw line.
Sophomore Nolan Woodward's (Montreal, Quebec) second freebie of two chances gave his team the lead with 66 seconds left. Freshman Jayvon-Pitts-Young (Portland, Maine), the hero of Saturday's thrilling win at Saint Michael's College, added a layup with 23 ticks left to make the advantage three, 54-51.
New Haven went right to work, using just seven seconds before Jemal Mosley drove through the lane for a quick lay-in to cut the AIC lead to one.
Forced to foul, the Chargers got ahold of junior Juwan Moody (Pontiac, Mich.) and the 86.0 perecent shooter from the line hit both to make New Haven go for three.
On the ensuing possession, the Chargers had an opportunity, but Tommy Hunt's three was well short of the mark as AIC held on for the crucial divisional victory.
It was a defensive battle all game for both squads, the Yellow Jackets opened up a gap with a 10-0 run powered by eight points from Moody. The junior guard popped two trey's assisted by Woodward and Pitts-Young, to open a 23-16 lead.
The run woke up the Chargers, who rebutted with their own 8-0 stretch kicked off by two long range balls. AIC junior Rasheed Howard (Woodbridge, N.J.) halted the New Haven run with an emphatic fast break slam, the last bucket of the half to give the Jackets a slim edge, 25-24.
Out of the gate, senior Cameron Dobbs (Albany, N.Y.) found his touch, knocking down his third trey of the day just 31 seconds into the second. A Dobbs free throw at the 12:24 mark gave AIC it's largest lead, nine, but the Chargers lived up to their name and came back on a 17-5 run to pull ahead, 49-44.
AIC proceeded to outscore New Haven 12-5 over the final 5:02 of play for the season sweep.
Dobbs scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Moody chipped in 14, while Assie hauled in an impressive 15 rebounds, nine of them coming in the first half.
The Yellow Jackets shot just 33.3 percent from the floor, but connected on half of their three-point attempts (7-14). Thanks in large part to Assie, AIC won the battle of the boards, 48-33.
The Yellow Jackets return to action Saturday, Feb. 6 when they host Le Moyne College in NE-10 divisional action at the Butova Gym. Tip-off with the Dolphins is slated for 3:30 p.m.
