Blue Devils Fall at SFNY on Thursday

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team dropped to 10-11 overall and 7-4 in Northeast Conference play with a 73-67 loss on the road at St. Francis (NY) on Thursday night.  The loss is the third in the last four games for the Blue Devils, who are now 2-8 on the road this season.

St. Francis (NY) moves to 12-10 overall and 9-2 in league play with the win, and will hold the tie breaker against the Blue Devils with the victory.  This is the only meeting in the regular season between the two teams.

Senior Robby Ptacek led the offense with 22 points, his 25th career game with 20 or more points.  Freshman Kyle Vinales added 18 points, including a pair of threes.  Senior Ken Horton had 13 points and nine boards.

St. Francis (NY) shot 46 percent from the field in the win, and hit nine threes.  They had 17 assists and turned the ball over just eight times.

The Terriers controlled the first half, hitting six threes and leading 43-32 at the break.  They were 17-of-30 from the field and 6-of-10 from three.  The Blue Devils, who led 8-2 to begin the game, hit just 13-of-29 from the field and 1-of-2 from three.

After taking the 8-2 lead, the Blue Devils saw the Terriers rattle off an 18-4 run to take a 20-12 lead with 9:27 to play before halftime.  During the stretch the Blue Devils went almost four minutes without a field goal.

The Terriers dished out 11 assists and only three turnovers before the break.  Central had just four assists and turned the ball over five times.

To open the second half, the Blue Devils cut the lead to 51-47, but the Terriers scored five straight to build the lead back to nine, 56-47. 

The lead reached 11 after the ninth three of the game from the Terriers with under seven minutes to play.  Eight straight from the Blue Devils, including the first two buckets of the game from junior Joe Efese, cut it to 65-62 with 4:41 to play.

The Terriers scored four straight to lead 69-62 with under a minute to play.  Central went more than four minutes with a point, before a three from Horton, his first of the game, with 21.9 seconds left cut the lead to 69-65. 

A pair of free-throws from the Terriers made it 71-65, and the Blue Devils turned it over on the next possession to seal the Terrier win.

Efese matched his career-high with 10 rebounds in the game.   Central outrebounded the Terriers 41-34, including 18 offensive boards.

Ptacek eclipsed 1,400 career points and moved into 11th place all-time on the CCSU scoring list.  He passed Tyrone Canino on the list. He also added five assists and four rebounds.

Horton moved into 10th place all-time on the NEC scoring list with his first basket of the game. 

Central returns to action on Saturday on the road at LIU Brooklyn beginning at 4:30 p.m.