Men's Hoop Wins Fifth Straight With 86-79 Victory at St. Francis (PA) on Thursday Night

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team won its fifth straight game, topping St. Francis (PA) 86-79, on the road on Thursday night. Central led by as many as 29 points in the first half, and hit an amazing 35-of-45 from the free-throw line in earning the victory. With the win the Blue Devils improve to 15-7 overall and 8-3 in Northeast Conference play. The return to action on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Robert Morris.

The Blue Devils have now won five straight and 11 of their last 13.

Junior Robby Ptacek led the offense and matched his career-high with 26 points in the game. He was 11-of-13 from the free-throw line and 7-of-13 from the floor. He also grabbed four rebounds and four assists.

Senior Shemik Thompson scored 23 points and made 14-of-18 from the line in the win. He grabbed six rebounds and added four assists while shooting 4-of-8 from the field.

The Blue Devils led 43-16 at the half after shooting 61.5 percent, 16-of-26, in the half and led by as many as 29. The Red Flash made only 5-of-21 from the field in the first half and turned the ball over 10 times. They were 1-of-12 from three before halftime.

The Red Flash put together an impressive offensive second half, scoring 63 points and shooting 23-of-42 from the floor.

The final minutes of the game saw the Red Flash continually foul the Blue Devils, who led by 10 most of the final few minutes. Central responded by hitting 29-of-36 free-throw attempts in the second half, including 22 total made free-throws from Thompson and Ptacek.

Central had 18 assists on 23 total baskets in the game. Thompson and Ptacek each had four while junior Ken Horton and sophomore Devan Bailey each added four.

Horton finished the game with his seventh double-double of the season. He had 18 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.

The Blue Devils attempted more free-throws than field goals in the game.The 45 attempts are the most in a single game since the 2000-01 season when they took 48 free-throws on Nov. 17, 2000 in a win over Albany in the season opener. They made 33 in that game.

The 35 free-throws made are the most in a game in the 15 seasons under head coach Howie Dickenman.

Central plays again this Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Robert Morris.