WEST HAVEN, Conn. - The ninth-seeded Saint Michael's College men's basketball team wiped out a nine-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to secure a 66-58 victory against eighth-seeded University of New Haven during the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Friday in the Jeffery P. Hazell Athletics Center.
 
The Purple Knights advanced to face No. 1 Adelphi University, the 17th-ranked team in the latest D2 CSC national poll, for a quarterfinal on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (9-20), New Haven (12-17)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 18 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 6-for-14 field goals, 4-for-5 free throws
• Senior Alan Brzezinski (Örebro, Sweden/Western Reserve Academy), 11 points, 6-for-6 free throws
• Senior Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 9 points, 3-for-5 three-pointers
• Junior Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 offensive rebounds, 2-for-3 field goals, 4-for-4 free throws
• Redshirt first-year Greg Kenney (Williston Park, N.Y./The Frederick Gunn School/LIU), 8 points
• Redshirt first-year Marcus Meeks (Prairie Village, Kan./Brewster Academy), 6 rebounds

OPPONENT LEADERS

• First-year Najimi George, 23 points, 9-for-15 field goals
• Sophomore Jah'Likai King, 21 points, 4 assists, 9-for-16 field goals
• Graduate student Syrus Grisby, 8 rebounds

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights held edges in rebounding (34-30) and shooting (42.0%-40.4%) while going 17-of-19 on free throws to the Chargers' 6-of-7 effort.
• Saint Michael's defeated New Haven for the fifth time in seven tries after also downing the Chargers during its regular-season finale last Saturday.
• Crews has hit 85 three-pointers this season, good for fifth in program history.
• The Purple Knights are now 1-1 in the postseason against New Haven, having previously lost in the 2014 NE10 quarterfinals in West Haven.
• Saint Michael's picked up its first postseason road win in nearly a decade to the day of its last victory, an 81-79 triumph on March 1, 2015, in an NE10 quarterfinal down the road at Southern Connecticut State University.
• The Purple and Gold now has four postseason wins in the past two seasons, matching the program's total from the prior 24 years.

THE ACTION

• Grisby scored the game's first four points before consecutive baskets by George extended the New Haven lead to 10-5 by 15:15 of the opening period.
• That proved to be the largest advantage for either team until late in the half, as the lead swung five times during the stanza.
• Duniver's three-pointer at 3:22 put the Purple Knights in front, 24-21, and Crews' triple at 1:29 made it 31-25.
• After Saint Michael's was up four at halftime, first-year Rico Byrd's (East Moline, Ill./The Kiski School) putback pushed the lead back to six 27 seconds into the second half.
• George netted 10 points in an 18-3 response, giving New Haven a game-high 45-36 advantage by 13:01.
• Still down nine with less than 10 minutes remaining, the Purple Knights scored the next 10 points. Kenney tallied half of the points, including the go-ahead lay-up at 6:26 (52-51).
• King hit a go-ahead jumper 29 seconds later, but Crews' driving lay-in at 4:45 gave Saint Michael's the lead for good, sparking a 6-0 run.
• King buried a three at 2:34, but Marold's lay-up with 1:10 left created a 60-56 buffer. Duniver pulled the board of an ensuing Charger miss, and Brzezinski hit two free throws at 29 seconds.
• New Haven never came closer than four points from there, as the visitors shot 6-of-6 on freebies in the closing stretch.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Sunday at Adelphi, 1:30 p.m. in NE10 Championship quarterfinal.