Men's Hoop Wins Second Straight, Tops SHU in Overtime

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team won its second straight Northeast Conference game on Saturday, winning 76-73 over Sacred Heart in overtime on Senior Day.  With the win the Blue Devils are now 5-24 overall and 3-13 in NEC action.  SHU falls to 13-16 overall and 7-9 in league play.

HIGHLIGHTS

Junior Brandon Peel posted 10 or more rebounds for the fourth straight game, finishing the game with 14 boards.  He added 14 points for his eighth double-double of the season.  Senior Faronte Drakeford also had a double-double in the victory with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Sophomore Matt Mobley led all scorers with 23 points, including 16 in the second half and overtime.  He was 4-of-11 from three.

Sacred Heart led 32-26 at the break but the Blue Devils shot 44.4 percent from the field, making 12-of-27 shots but only 1-of-7 from three.  Mobley and Drakeford each had seven points at the break but the Blue Devils had only four assists in the half.  Sacred Heart shot only 36.4 percent from the field, hitting 12-of-33, but made 7-of-11 from three to lead by six at the half. 

Sacred Heart's Steve Glowiak led all scorers with nine at halftime.  All of his points, including the 1,000th of his career, came on threes. 

In the second half the Blue Devils tied the game 54-54 but the Pioneers answered with six straight points to climb ahead 60-54 with four minutes left in the game. 

The lead reached eight but five straight points from senior Greg Andrade cut the Sacred Heart lead to 62-59 with under three minutes to play.  The Pioneers answered with a three-point play on the other end of the floor to build the lead back to 65-59 with 2:30 on the clock.

Drakeford scored to cut it to four, and following a defensive stop, Mobley hit his fourth three of the game to cut the lead to 65-64.  An offensive rebound and basket by Peel gave Central a one point lead, 66-65, and then the Pioneers hit 1-of-2 free-throws to send the game to overtime.  Central had a shot at the buzzer but a Mobley three came up short.

In overtime the Blue Devils took a 73-70 lead on a three-point play from Drakeford.  He forced a turnover at one end and finished the fast-break at the other for the three-point lead.  SHU, however, answered with a three to tie the game 73-73 with two minutes to play. 

With under 40 seconds to play in overtime Mobley hit a layup and was fouled.  He went to the line and completed the three-point play to put Central on top 76-73.  SHU missed a three with 13 seconds to play and then sent Central to the line.  They missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and SHU had one final attempt from three that came up short.

Mobley led all scorers with 23, his 11th 20+ point game of the season.  Four Blue Devils scored in double-figures, including sophomore Khalen Cumberlander who had 10 and five assists.  The Blue Devils turned the ball over just 12 times in the game and had seven blocks.  Four of the blocks came from Peel in 43 minutes of action.

Andrade, a senior who was honored before the game along with Drakeford, finished the game with seven points, five rebounds and a career-high three blocks. 

The Blue Devils held a 45-39 advantage on the boards, including 14 on the offensive end of the floor that led to 15 points.

The Blue Devils will complete the season with a pair of road games next week.  First, they will play at Bryant on Thursday night at 7 p.m.  The season will end with a road game at Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.