WEST HAVEN, Conn. (Jan. 31, 2011) – NYIT men’s basketball faced a hard-fought 65-61 non-conference loss on the road at New Haven Monday night.  With the loss, the Bears dropped to 7-11 on the season.

 

Senior Kris Knez (Astoria, N.Y.) led the Bears with 13 points, while sophomore Kayvon Roberts (Corona, N.Y.) added 12 points. For the Chargers, Robert Jamerson tallied a game-high 23 points and Justin Exum added 20 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Jeremy Williams rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points.

 

Knez paced the Bears in the first half, scoring 11 of his 13 points in seven minute played. NYIT jumped to a nine-point lead, 25-16, with 11:26 to play on a three-pointer from Knez. The Bears continued its rally and pushed their lead to 11-points, 35-24, with 5:42 remaining. Roberts scored five of the 10 points in the run and Berg nailed a three-pointer. However, New Haven held NYIT scoreless for the final five minutes as the Chargers produced a 10-0 run to bring the score within one-point, 35-34, with 1:45 remaining.

 

The Chargers continued their rally and knotted the score 48-48 on a deuce from Jamerson at 14:24. A minute and half later, he gave New Haven its second lead of the game, 50-48, with 12:57 to play. The two teams then traded baskets before the Chargers went on an 13-2 run to claim a 63-54 lead with 5:32 remaining. Senior Jerrell Walker (Stockton, Calif.) broke through the Bears five minute scoring drought with a layup at 2:32. He then converted a three-point play to bring the score within four points, 63-59, as the Bears had less than two minutes to fight and knot the score. And, fight is what they did. Walker nailed another layup to make it a two-point game, 63-61, with 1:24 to go. However, the Bears were unable to tie the game as the Chargers went on to win 65-61 on a layup from Jamerson.

 

NYIT returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 2 it hosts Molloy in East Coast Conference action. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Recreation Hall.