Central Opens Big at Bryant

Senior Ken Horton scored a season-high 32 points as the Central Connecticut men's basketball team rolled to a 83-51 road victory in the first game of Northeast Conference action on Thursday night.  The win is the fourth straight for the Blue Devils.

The win marked the first time in Central's Division I history (26 seasons) that the Blue Devils won back-to-back games by more than 30 points.

Senior Robby Ptacek added 20 points and freshman Kyle Vinales had 15 as the Blue Devils won vs. Bryant for the 10th time in the last 11 meetings. 

Freshman Malcolm McMillan posted a career-high 13 assists in the victory, the most assists in a single game for the Blue Devils since Damian Battles had 13 in a win over Fairleigh Dickinson on February 7, 2002.

Horton's 30 point effort was the seventh of his career, and he scored in double-figures for the 32nd straight game.  He added nine rebounds.

With the win the Blue Devils move to 4-2 overall and begin conference play 1-0.  They have now won four straight games.

The Blue Devils opened the game and took a 13-0 lead as Vinales and Horton each hit a pair of threes in the first few minutes.  It was 18-7 after the second three by Vinales and a jumper from senior Robby Ptacek.

It was 22-7 after back-to-back buckets by Horton.   A 6-1 run by the Bulldogs cut the lead to 23-13.   Ptacek hit his first three of the game, and Vinales made his third, to make it 35-16 with 4:04 to play in the half.

The first half lead reached 19 and the Blue Devils went into halftime with a 37-19 lead.  It was the sixth straight game that the Blue Devils have led at the half to start the season.

Central hit six threes in the first half and held Bryant to 31 percent shooting from the field.  The Bulldogs hit just 1-of-11 from three, Central was 6-for-17.  Horton led the way with 16 first half points.  He added seven rebounds.

Central doubled up the Bulldogs, 48-24, after the second three of the second half from Ptacek.  They hit three threes in the first four minutes to stretch the lead.  The second three of the half from Horton made it 51-25.

A span of five threes in a six minute span pushed the lead to 63-30 with 12:10 left in half. 

Bryant chipped into the lead, but five straight from Horton, which pushed him over 30, gave Central a 74-45 edge with under five to play.

The 83-51 final marked the second time in as many games that the Blue Devils won by a 30+ point margin.  That was the first time in their Division I history that that has happened.

Horton's 32 led all scorers as he became the third Blue Devil to post 30 or more points in a single game this season (Vinales and Ptacek).  Central outrebounded Bryant 40-37 and dished out an impressive 25 assists on 32 total field goals.  They had 10 steals and forced 19 Bryant turnovers.  Those turnovers led to 32 CCSU points.

The Blue Devils return to action on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at home vs. Sacred Heart.