Men's Basketball Faces Mount St. Mary's Saturday

The Blue Devils will play their next three games away from home.

January 31, 2017

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team heads to Mount St. Mary's on Saturday to face the Northeast Conference's top team. The game tips off at 4:00 p.m. and will be available on NECFrontRow.com.

All Northeast Conference games are available to watch online, for free, at NECFrontRow.com.

Central fell to Wagner, 70-60, on Thursday. CCSU has split its last four games, winning 61-52 over LIU Brooklyn at home last Saturday. The Blue Devils have slipped to two games out of a NEC tournament spot.

Mount St. Mary's sits atop the league standings at 10-1 and has won eight straight after defeating Bryant on Thursday. The Mountaineers conclude a four-game homestand with CCSU's visit on Saturday and will then play four straight on the road.

Wagner downed St. Francis Brooklyn, 66-64, to get back to .500 in NEC play before its win over CCSU. The Seahawks began a stretch of four straight road games with its trip to New Britain.

Tickets for CCSU home games can be purchased at CCSUTickets.com or at the box office upon entry to Kaiser Hall and Detrick Gymnasium. Admission for all CCSU students, faculty and staff is free of charge with a valid Blue Chip card.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Radio: (News Radio 1410 | iHeartRadio Mobile App)
Talent: Bruce Biel (Play-by-Play), Marc Robbins (Analyst)
Twitter: @KizerBlueDevil (in-game updates)

CCSU Men's Basketball Record Book (PDF)

Series Notes vs. Wagner:

• Series Record: Wagner leads, 25-20

• First Meeting: 1939-40 (CCSU, 51-36)

• Last Meeting: Feb. 2, 2017 (Wagner, 70-60)

• Last CCSU Win: Jan. 24, 2015 (53-50)

• Current CCSU Streak: L5

• Last Wagner Win: Feb. 2, 2017 (60-70)

Series Notes vs. Mount St. Mary's:

• Series Record: CCSU leads, 20-19

• First Meeting: Feb. 16, 1989 (Mount, 93-74)

• Last Meeting: Jan. 7, 2017 (Mount, 77-68)

• Last CCSU Win: Feb. 18, 2016 (76-72)

• Current CCSU Streak: L1

• Last Mount St. Mary's Win: Jan. 7, 2017 (68-77)

CCSU Notes:

• Sophomore Austin Nehls has posted four 20-point games on the year after scoring 20 in CCSU's win over LIU Brooklyn. He is averaging a team-high 14.2 ppg on the season.
• Senior Tidell Pierre leads the team with 7.2 rebounds per game. He has six games of 10+ rebounds and his 3.33 offensive rebounds per game is second in the NEC.

• Senior Tafari Whittingham matched a career-best with nine rebounds against Wagner in 30 minutes. Junior Mustafa Jones scored 12 points for his fourth straight double-digit scoring game.

Mount St. Mary's Notes:

• The Mount is riding its longest win streak since winning nine in a row in 2012-13. Entering the week, Mount's last three opponents were scoring just 49.0 ppg and shooting 33.5 percent from the field.

• The Mountaineers shoot a league-best .465 from the field in NEC play, while allowing a league-low 62.5 ppg in conference action.

• Chris Wray shoots .667 from the field in NEC play, which leads the league, while Elijah Long dishes out a league-best 5.0 assists per game in NEC play.

Wagner Notes:

• Michael Carey was named an NEC Prime Performer last week after averaging 12.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists. He picked up his seventh double-double of the year with 15 points and 11 rebounds against St. Francis Brooklyn.

• Corey Henson is the third-leading active scorer in the NEC with 986 career points. He has 156 career three-pointers, which ranks second among active NEC players.

• The Seahawks have the top defense in the NEC, allowing just 65.8 points per game and holding opponents to .411 shooting.

NCAA 2016-17 Rules Review Videos

Last Time Out

CCSU held off a second-half charge from LIU Brooklyn to pick up a 61-52 win on Saturday at Detrick Gymnasium. The Blue Devils would lead throughout the second half and had a cushion as big as 12 points in the second half. LIU would cut the lead to three points late, but sophomore Austin Nehls would hit five foul shots in the last 0:33 to help seal the win.

Nehls scored a game-high 20 points, while junior Mustafa Jones and freshman Tyson Batiste each had 10 points. Senior Tidell Pierre grabbed eight rebounds.

LIU built a 12-5 lead in the early going. A layup by Nura Zanna capped a spurt of five straight points to make it 5-3. Jerome Frink would score five straight following a CCSU basket and a layup by Julian Batts with 15:35 left in the half would make it 12-5.

The Blue Devils would use an 8-0 run to retake the lead. Jones and Batiste would hit layups and four straight foul shots by Nehls gave Central a 13-12 lead. Central would push its lead to 27-19 at the half following a spurt of six straight points. Junior Kevin Seymour would convert a slashing layup with four seconds left in the period to send the Blue Devils into the break with the lead.

LIU would cut the Central lead to three early in the second half. Frink would have two baskets on either side of two foul shots by Batts to make it 37-34 with 11:19 to play.

The Blue Devils would respond by pushing the lead to double-figures. A three-pointer by Nehls was followed by a fast-break layup from senior Khalen Cumberlander. A short jumper by Pierre with 8:35 to play put CCSU ahead, 46-35.

Central's lead would grow as large as 12 before the Blackbirds came back with nine unanswered points and held the Blue Devils without a field goal for over five minutes. A three-point play by Raiquan Clark started the spurt with 5:45 to play. Frink's layup with 2:48 to play cut the CCSU lead to 50-47.

Layups by Jones and Nehls would end the CCSU scoring drought and push the lead back to 54-47 with 1:55 to play. The Blackbirds would be unable to cut the deficit to closer than four points the rest of the way as Central would hit 7-of-10 from the line down the stretch.

Up Next

Following Thursday's home game, the Blue Devils will play three straight on the road beginning with a trip to Mount St. Mary's on Saturday. CCSU will return home for three straight at Detrick Gym beginning on Feb. 16 against Saint Francis U.