Central Drops Season Finale at FDU

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team dropped its season finale on the road at Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, 73-66.  The loss is the second straight for the Blue Devils after they won two in a row last week at home. 

With the loss Central ends the season with a record of 5-26 overall and 3-15 in Northeast Conference play.  FDU improves to 8-21 overall and 3-15 in the league.

Senior Greg Andrade posted his first career double-double in the final game of his career on Saturday, posting a career-high 15 points and grabbing a career-high 17 rebounds in the loss.  Sophomore Matt Mobley added 18 points and freshman Mustafa Jones had a career-high 15 points for the Blue Devils.

Central trailed 33-21 at the half after shooting just 6-of-26 from the field, good for 23.1 percent.  They were 3-of-11 from three and turned the ball over 13 times leading to 15 Fairleigh Dickinson points.  Mobley led Central with six points. 

The Knights made just 14-of-36 from the floor and only 2-of-17 from three in the first half, but led by 12 at the break.  They had an 18-6 advantage on points in the paint and led by as many as 16 in the half.

Andrade and Mobley helped cut the deficit down to 43-34 with 11:59 left in the second half.  Andrade had a thunderous dunk in the paint and Mobley had a steal and a lay-up to get the lead under 10.

The Knights answered, however, and built the lead to 15, 57-42, with 7:33 on the clock after back-to-back threes from Mustafaa Jones had missed his first eight shots from the field but hit two straight to build the Knight lead to 15.

The Blue Devils cut it to six, 60-55, with under four minutes to play on the play of Jones and Andrade.  Andrade's three-point play capped an 8-0 run for the Blue Devils and cut the lead to five.

The Knights responded again and built the lead back to eight, 66-58, with under two minutes to play.  However, a Central bucket and then a turnover and basket from sophomore Khalen Cumberlander cut it to 67-63 with just over a minute to play.  The Knights sealed the win with free-throws in the final minute of the game.

Andrade's career-day of 15 points and 17 boards led the Blue Devils.  Mobley added 18, including three threes.  Jones had 15 pints and five boards on 6-of-9 shooting.  He also added a pair of blocks.  Cumberlander had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists in the loss.