Men's Basketball Slowed in Second Half at Wagner in NEC Opener
The Blue Devils will play at St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday.
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team got within three points in the second half before Wagner pulled away for a 71-46 win in the Northeast Conference opener for both teams on Thursday night in Staten Island. The Seahawks used 13-0 runs in each half to hold off the Blue Devils. Junior Mustafa Jones led CCSU with 16 points.
With the loss, CCSU slips to 2-10 overall and 0-1 in the NEC. Wagner improves to 5-6 and 1-0 in NEC play.
Back-to-back layups by Jones gave Central its largest lead of the first half. His second layup at the 15:23 mark made it 8-5 before Wagner's defense tightened up.
The Seahawks would hold CCSU without a field goal for a span of 6:30, outscoring the visitors 13-0 during that time. JoJo Cooper had seven points in the run and a three-pointer by Blake Francis at the 10:24 mark would make it 18-8.
Wagner got a putback from AJ Sumbry just before the halftime horn to make it 35-24 at the intermission.
The Blue Devils opened the second half by holding Wagner to just 1-of-8 shooting and chipped away at the deficit. A pair of foul shots by senior Tidell Pierre made it 37-34 with 14:51 to play.
The Seahawks responded with three straight trifectas from Blake Francis to start a 13-0 run. The Seahawks would stretch the lead to 50-34 with 10:05 remaining.
Jones would score off a dunk on CCSU's next possession but that would be as close as the game would get the rest of the way. Wagner would lead by as much as 71-45 before a foul shot by Pierre would close out the scoring.
Jones hit 8-of-14 from the field and was the only Blue Devil in double-figures. Senior Khalen Cumberlander added nine points, three steals and two assists.
CCSU shot 36.7 percent overall (18-of-49) and was just 1-of-8 (.125) from three-point range.
Corey Hensen led four Seahawks in double-digits with 14 points. Francis finished with 12 points, four assists and no turnovers. Wagner shot 45.1 percent overall (23-of-51) and was 11-of-23 (.478) from the arc.
The Blue Devils play at St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday, Dec. 31, in a 4:00 p.m. start.
