“It’s Fun When You Win”: New Haven Sweeps Its First-Ever NEC Contests
Credit: New Haven Athletics
Can New Haven compete in their first season in big league hoops?
Emphatically, yes.
The Chargers roared out to an undefeated start on opening night across both divisions of NEC hoops, with the men winning 70-55 on the road and the women’s squad winning 66-61 at home. Both contests were against the Stonehill Skyhawks.
On the men’s side, the Chargers took a halftime lead of 36-31 and added an additional +10 in the second half. The women had to survive a late Skyhawks rally after a flawless 3rd quarter where they outscored Stonehill 25-6. Anyia McDonald-Perry had 23 points for the women’s side, while the men spread the points out evenly. Notably, Aiden Losiewicz scored his 13 points on 3-5 shooting from downtown in just 16 minutes. Najimi George paced the men with 14 points.
“It’s fun when you win,” said Coach Hotaling on the men’s side. “Happy to get our first NEC win.”
It’s the first NEC win in program history for both sets of Chargers.
It’s an impressive pair of wins. But maybe the most impressive thing is what New Haven has done to compete- and fast.
Last season in Division II, the Chargers finished 12-17. They weren’t expected to make too much noise in the league this season. They were picked to finish 10th in conference out of a 10 team league. It was going to take time to be competitive. It’s not exactly unprecedented to make the transition from Division II and immediately show firepower in the league- Mercyhurst finished 9-7 in conference last season, after all- but at least the Lakers were a .500 team in a loaded PSAC the year prior. New Haven is coming off of a 7 win conference slate in the NE10. Stonehill, on the other hand, is one of the more highly touted teams in the conference, with a preseason #3 ranking in the NEC.
The women’s side didn’t look much different, with New Haven picked 9th and Stonehill picked 2nd.
No game is a referendum, and there’s a lot of action left in NEC play. The 17 games remaining will show us a lot about what New Haven basketball will add to the league. There was probably a lot of focus on the Chargers as a football addition (as well as volleyball, from this side of the reporting sphere). I think basketball was viewed as something we’d probably have to wait and see to find out more about. But what we’re seeing right now- and what we’ve seen so far from the Chargers- indicates that they’ll have plenty to say this season.
On the men’s side, the Chargers upset UMass Lowell, handled Delaware State, and had Boston College and NJIT on the ropes. Early on, this looks like one of the better teams in the conference. This is an NEC that has been able to consistently punch up in non-conference play. The Chargers certainly looked the part in their early slate.
The win against Stonehill- on both sides- has shown that it isn’t a fluke.
The early reviews are in. New Haven basketball looks like it’ll be ready to compete this season. The Chargers will have to keep building just a little while longer to make noise in the postseason when they’re eligible in a few seasons.
