Men's Basketball Stymied at Fairleigh Dickinson, 79-62

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.

The loss drops CCSU to 5-19 overall and 3-10 in the Northeast Conference. FDU snaps a three-game skid with the win and improves to 11-13 and 9-4 in the NEC. 

HIGHLIGHTS

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. 

CCSU shot 14-of-32 (.438) in the opening half, but was just 2-of-8 (.250) from three-point range and 1-of-8 (.125) at the foul line.

FDU shot 17-of-33 (.515) from the floor and was 8-of-15 (.533) from the arc and 4-of-8 (.500) at the foul line.

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.

Potts, Jr. led all scorers with 21 points. Malik Miller and Darnell Edge each finished with 13 points and Stephan Jiggets added 10 points and nine assists.

FDU shot 29-of-55 (.527) from the floor and was 11-of-23 (.478) from three-point range. 

The Blue Devils are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 11, at Sacred Heart in a 3:30 p.m. tipoff.