Men's Basketball Travels to Sacred Heart on Saturday

Blue Devils face Pioneers at 3:30 p.m.

February 10, 2017

Central Connecticut faces in-state rival Sacred Heart on Saturday in a Northeast Conference men's basketball contest. The important Northeast Conference contest is set to tip off at 3:30 p.m. following the CCSU-SHU women's contest.

Central is coming off a 79-62 loss at Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday. The Blue Devils will be wrapping up a stretch of three straight road games with the trip to Sacred Heart. CCSU is currently two games out of the final NEC tournament spot, but have a game against each of the three teams its chasing for the final spot.

Sacred Heart downed St. Francis Brooklyn, 80-65, on Thursday to pick up its third straight win. The Pioneers won a pair of games last week, defeating Bryant, 73-70, in overtime and holding off Fairleigh Dickinson, 74-70.

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.

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

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

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

Series Notes vs. Fairleigh Dickinson:

• Series Record: FDU leads, 24-17

• First Meeting: Dec. 14, 1988 (FDU, 75-74)

• Last Meeting: Feb. 9, 2017 (FDU, 79-62)

• Last CCSU Win: Feb. 8, 2014 (91-86 ot)

• Current CCSU Streak: L6

• Last FDU Win: Feb. 9, 2017 (79-62)

Series Notes vs. Sacred Heart:

• Series Record: CCSU leads, 37-24

• First Meeting: Jan. 21, 1971 (CCSU, 99-87)

• Last Meeting: Jan. 5, 2017 (SHU, 64-62)

• Last CCSU Win: Feb. 21, 2015 (76-73)

• Current CCSU Streak: L3

• Last Sacred Heart Win: Jan. 5, 2017 (62-64)

CCSU Men's Basketball Record Book (PDF)

CCSU Notes:

• The Blue Devils had one of their strongest defensive efforts of the year in the win at Mount St. Mary's. CCSU has held three of its last five opponents under 40 percent shooting, including holding Mount to 35.1 percent - a season-best mark.
• Senior Khalen Cumberlander averaged 14.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 2.5 apg last week. He had a team-high 14 points at Mount St. Mary's and is now 31st all-time at CCSU with 1,052 career points.

• Senior Tafari Whittingham led Central with 8.0 rebounds per game last week. He matched a personal-best with nine against Wagner and followed that with 11 points and seven rebounds at Mount. St. Mary's.

Sacred Heart Notes:

• Quincy McKnight averaged 21.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg and 5.0 apg last week. He had 25 points, his 8th 25-point outing of the year, on Thursday against St. Francis Brooklyn.

• Sean Hoehn ranks third in NEC play, shooting .417 from three-point range. Teammate Matej Buovac ranks fourth with 2.25 trifectas per game in league play.

• The Pioneers, winners of three straight, lead the NEC with 14.5 assists per game.

Fairleigh Dickinson Notes:

• Darian Anderson is the leading active scorer in the NEC with 1,235 career points. Earl Potts, Jr. leads the league with a 6.8 turnover percentage.

• Stephan Jiggets averaged 16.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg and 3.0 apg last week. He had 20 points against Sacred Heart.

• The Knights rank second overall in the league shooting .440 from the field and averaging 72.6 points.

NCAA 2016-17 Rules Review Videos

Last Time Out

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team were outgunned by Fairleigh Dickinson and fell, 79-62, on Thursday at Stratis Arena in Hackensack, NJ. The Blue Devils opened the scoring, but the Knights would score seven straight to take the lead for good.

Junior Mustafa Jones opened the scoring in the game and Central would be within 18-13 midway through the half after a foul shot by senior Tidell Pierre.

The Knights would answer by outscoring the Blue Devils, 23-6, over a span of 6:28 to take control and build their largest lead of the half. Kaleb Bishop opened a run of six straight for FDU to make it 20-13 at the 10:39 mark.

FDU would also have a spurt of eight unanswered points in the run after Darnell Edge and Mike Schroback had three-pointers sandwiched around a Malik Miller dunk. Earl Potts Jr. hit a foul shot with 4:31 left in the half to make it 41-19.

The Blue Devils trimmed the deficit just before halftime with seven straight points. Pierre would hit a layup, followed by a three-pointer from junior Kevin Seymour. Pierre would put back his own miss just before the halftime horn to make it 46-31 at the break.

The Blue Devils would extend their run to nine unanswered points to open the second half after Pierre hit a layup and get CCSU within 46-33. The Knights would not allow the Blue Devils to get any closer. FDU outscored Central 9-2 to quickly build its lead back to 57-37 with 15:00 to play after a three-pointer by Potts.

FDU would lead by as much as 77-53 with 4:47 remaining. Central would would outscore FDU 9-2 down the stretch. CCSU would get six straight on a jumper by freshman Chris Williams, two foul shots by senior Tafari Whittingham and a layup by freshman Tyson Batiste. A three-pointer by Williams would round out the scoring and settle the score at 79-62.

Jones led three in double-figures for Central with 15 points. Sophomore Eric Bowles finished with a career-high 11 points and Pierre added 11 points.

Central shot 25-of-57 (.439) overall, but was just 3-of-14 (.214) from the arc and 9-of-21 (.421) from the foul line. The Blue Devils outrebounded the Knights, 36-32.

Up Next

Central will play three straight at home, beginning with Saint Francis U. on Thursday, Feb. 16. The CCSU volleyball and football teams will be collecting donated school supplies at the doubleheader on Feb. 18, for Smalley Academy in New Britain.