Shemik Thompson Scores 1,000th Career Point as Men's Basketball Improves to 3-0 With Win at UMBC

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team has started the season 3-0 for the first time since the 1998-99 season following an 82-74 victory on the road at UMBC on Saturday night. Senior Shemik Thompson became the 32nd player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. Central returns to action on Monday night at Penn State, beginning at 7 p.m. The game will air live on the Big Ten Network.

The win is the 23rd straight for the Blue Devils when scoring at least 80 points in a game. It also marked the first time that the Blue Devils have scored 80 or more points in back-to-back games since 2007-08 season.

Junior Ken Horton led the offensive attack with 24 points, his second 20 point game of the season. He had a career-high 34 points in the win at Army on Monday night. He added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and the seventh of his career.

For the third straight game the Blue Devils fell behind early and trailed by as many as 11, 28-17, in the first half. They outscored the Retrievers 32-10 over the final 10 minutes of the period to take an 11-point lead. The Blue Devils led 49-38 at the half. They hit 20-of-38 from the field in the half, including four threes.

Horton had 19 points and six boards at halftime. Senior Markeys Deans had seven boards to go along with 12 first half points as the Blue Devils put up 49 points before the break. It was the second time in as many games that the Blue Devils scored at least 49 in the first half. They had 50 in a win at Army on Monday night.

UMBC cut the lead to three at 55-52 with just under 12 minutes to play in the second half, but junior Robby Ptacek answered with a basket on the other end to build the lead back to 57-52. Ptacek had nine points at that point in the contest.

Horton's 21st point of the game gave the Blue Devils a 59-53 lead with just over 10 minutes to play. A pair of free-throws from Horton made it 63-55 with 9:21 to play.

Thompson's 1,000th career point came on a free-throw in the second half and gave the Blue Devils a 68-61 lead with just over seven minutes to play. Deans scored his 16th point of the night to give the Blue Devils a 72-65 lead and then a three-point play by Ptacek made it 75-66.

The Retrievers responded with five straight points to make it 75-71 before Thompson drove the length of the floor to make it 77-71. A free-throw by junior Vince Rosario made it 78-71 with just over two minutes to play. After a UMBC bucket Thompson hit two free-throws to make it 80-73.

Horton led the offense with 24 points, he added 12 rebounds in the victory. Deans had his second career double-double and his first of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds in the game. The 18 points were just two off his career-high.

Thompson finished the game with 19 points and three assists, he was 8-of-19 from the field in the game.

Central returns to action on Monday night on the road at Penn State beginning at 7 p.m. The game will air live on the Big Ten Network and locally on ESPN Radio 1410 and 1300.