December 12, 2016
Men's Basketball Faces Intrastate Foe Yale on Tuesday
CCSU set to play its first game at Yale in the series' history.
Central Connecticut travels to Yale on Tuesday night for a non-conference men's basketball contest. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Payne Whitney Gymnasium. The Blue Devils are playing their third game of a seven-game road swing and are coming off a narrow three-point loss at Duquesne on Sunday to slip to 2-6 on the year. Yale, the defending Ivy League champions, are 5-4 on the season after dropping Delaware, 81-63, on Sunday.
CCSU is making its first trip to Yale in the series' history. The teams have played six times previously, but five of those meetings were on a neutral court. The Bulldogs won, 62-42, at Detrick Gymnasium last season in the first meeting of the schools outside the Connecticut 6 Classic.
Bruce Biel (play-by-play) and Marc Robbins (analyst) will call the game for CCSU on News Radio 1410.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
CCSU (2-6) at Yale (5-4) | 7:00 PM | ILDN | Live Stats | Listen (News Radio 1410) | Twitter: @KizerBlueDevil (in-game updates)
Series Notes:
• Series Record: Yale leads 5-1
• First Meeting: Dec. 4, 1997 (Yale, 77-61)
• Last Meeting: Dec. 30, 2015 (Yale, 42-62)
• Last CCSU Win: Dec. 2, 1999 (59-45)
• Current CCSU Streak: L4
• Last Yale Win: Dec. 30, 2015 (42-62)
CCSU Notes:
• Senior Tidell Pierre is coming off a career-high 21 points at Duquesne. He went 8-of-11 from the field, including 2-for-2 from three-point range. Since being inserted into the starting lineup five games ago, he is averaging 10.0 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds. He's averaged 26.8 minutes per game, while shooting .531 from the floor in that time.
• Senior Khalen Cumberlander ranks second among returnees in the Northeast Conference with 845 career points. He is sixth with 206 assists.
• Sophomore Austin Nehls ranks 3rd in the NEC and 36th nationally in three-point percentage at .465.
• Sophomore Eric Bowles made his first start of the year at Duquesne. He finished with six points, seven assists and three rebounds against the Dukes. He leads the NEC and is 32nd in the NCAA in assist-turnover ratio at 3.22.
Yale Notes:
• Alex Copeland and Jordan Bruner were named to the Ivy League Honor Roll on Monday. Copeland scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half of a 66-52 win over Sacred Heart. Bruner averaged 13.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and blocked five shots in two games.
• The Bulldogs have four players averaging double-figures, led by Copeland (13.6 ppg). Sam Downey (12.0), Blake Reynolds (11.4) and Miye Oni (10.9) also score in double-digits.
• Yale's four losses have come against teams with a combined record of 26-15. Yale is currently on a three-game win streak.
Last Time Out
Central Connecticut got a career-day from senior Tidell Pierre, but Duquesne scored the final eight points for a 70-67 win on Saturday at the A.J. Palumbo Center. The game had 10 lead changes and was tied on 11 occasions, with neither team leading by more than eight points on the afternoon.
Pierre hit his second three-pointer of the day to break a tie midway through the second half and put CCSU in front, 56-53, with 9:47 to play. A pair of foul shots by sophomore Austin Nehls would give Central its largest lead of the day at 58-53.
The Blue Devils would continue to lead and a pair of foul shots by sophomore Eric Bowles made it 67-62 with 1:47 remaining before the Dukes would close out the game with the decisive run. Isiaha Mike would hit a foul shot to start the Dukes' run with 1:33 to play. After Duquesne cut the deficit to two points, Mike would hit a three-pointer with 0:17 to play to give DU the lead for good at 68-67.
Central would get the ball back and have a good luck that just missed and the Dukes got the rebound and hit two foul shots with 0:02 remaining for the final margin.
The teams played an even opening half as Central was able to take advantage of an edge on the glass and forced Duquesne into seven turnovers. Each team would use runs to trade three-point leads before Mike Lewis II would hit a three-pointer for Duquesne just before halftime to tie the score at 27-27.
Duquesne would take its largest lead of the game with a quick 6-0 run on back to back three-pointers by Mike and Lewis II to make it 38-30 with 17:47 to play.
Pierre led all scorers with a career-high 21 points. He was joined in double-figures by senior Khalen Cumberlander with 14 points, Nehls and Jones, with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Cumberlander had a team-high eight rebounds, while Bowles had seven assists. Central shot 25-of-60 (.415) from the field, including 6-of-11 (.545) from three-point range. The Blue Devils held a 35-33 edge in rebounding and committed a season-low nine turnovers.
CCSU will play its fourth straight road game, with a trip to UMass Lowell on Dec. 18. Central is on its longest road swing since opening 2014-15 when it played eight straight away from home and went 1-7. The Blue Devils open Northeast Conference action on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 with road games at Wagner and St. Francis Brooklyn, respectively. CCSU will return home on January 5 against Sacred Heart.
