Men's Basketball Falls in Overtime at St. Francis Brooklyn, 86-77

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team erased a 12-point deficit in the second half before falling in overtime, 86-77, at St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. Senior Tidell Pierre had 15 points and 19 rebounds for the Blue Devils.

CCSU slips to 2-11 overall and 0-2 in Northeast Conference play, while the Terriers are now 4-11 and 2-0 in the NEC.

Senior Khalen Cumberlander led four in double-figures for CCSU with 18 points, while sophomore Austin Nehls had 16 points and sophomore Eric Bowles had 10 points.

Bowles hit a three-pointer with 0:02 to play to send it to overtime after CCSU erased a four-point deficit in the final 33 seconds. The Terriers would score eight straight to pull away in overtime after junior Mustafa Jones got Central within one point. 

St. Francis would take its largest lead of the afternoon following a three-pointer by Glenn Sanabria with 16:39 to go to make it 45-33, before CCSU would chip away at the lead. A jumper by Jones would start a 9-1 spurt, capped off by a Nehls three-pointer and CCSU would get within 46-42.

The Terriers would continue to lead until Cumberlander scored 10 straight for Central in a 2:23 span to help give CCSU a 58-56 lead with 5:24 to go. Cumberlander personally outscored SFBK, 10-1, during the spurt to erase an eight-point deficit and get CCSU back into the game.

The teams would be tied four times and trade leads four times down the stretch. A pair of foul shots put SFBK ahead 67-63 with 33 seconds to set up Bowles' last-second trifecta. Nehls would hit three foul shots and the Terriers would hit two sets of foul shots on either side of a Cumberlander layup before Bowles tied the game.

The first half was marked by foul trouble for both teams, as they combined for 26 fouls. The Terriers used an 8-0 run to build their largest lead of the game at 17-8 with 11:29 to go in the period.

The Blue Devils were forced to go with a smaller lineup because of foul trouble, but a jumper by Pierre opened a 7-0 spurt for CCSU to cut the deficit to two. Freshman Tyson Batiste would start another run of seven unanswered for Central with a foul shot. Pierre added two foul shots and a pair of layups by junior Kevin Seymour would give CCSU its first lead of the half at 26-24.

Glenn Sanabria would hit two of his five first half three-pointers to give SFBK the lead again and the Terriers would take a 35-31 lead at the intermission.

Pierre would collect a double-double before halftime with 11 points and 14 rebounds in the opening period. Nehls and Cumberlander carried the offensive load after halftime scoring 13 and 12 points, respectively, in the second half.

The Blue Devils would shoot 39.7 percent (27-68) for the game, but was just 3-of-11 (.273) from three-point range. Central was also just 20-of-36 (.556) from the foul line.

CCSU held a convincing 51-37 rebounding margin and outscored the Terriers, 44-22, in the paint.

Sanabria led the Terriers with 26 points, hitting 7-of-11 from the arc. Rasheem Dunn added 19 points and Yunus Hopkinson had 17 points.

St. Francis shot 43.9 percent (25-57) overall, but hit 10 three-pointers. SFBK was 26-of-38 (.684) from the foul line.

The Blue Devils return home to host Sacred Heart on Thursday, Jan. 5, in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff at Detrick Gymnasium.