The Central Connecticut men's basketball team closes out the regular season at Bryant on Saturday afternoon in a 1:00 p.m. tipoff. The Blue Devils are coming off a 62-53 win over St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday night.
Thursday marked the final home game for CCSU's three seniors: Khalen Cumberlander, Tidell Pierre and Tafari Whittingham. Cumberlander has had a career-year as a senior averaging a career-high 13.3 ppg and scored a career-high 26 at Mount on Jan. 7. Pierre averages 8.1 ppg and 6.9 rpg with three double-doubles. He had a career-best 19 boards at Duquesne. Last year he had 2.1 ppg and 2.5 rpg. Whittingham ranks third on the team in rebounding and scored a career-high 15 points at Binghamton. He has played in 21 games and averages 18.9 mpg.
Bryant had a three-game win streak snapped on Thursday in a 69-66 loss at Wagner. The Bulldogs are currently locked in a three-way tie for sixth-place in the NEC standings.
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)
at Bryant (11-19, 8-9 NEC) | Saturday, Feb. 25 • 1:00 PM | CCSU Notes | Bryant Notes
CCSU Notes:
• Senior
Khalen Cumberlander averaged an NEC-best 24.5 ppg last week. He shot 56.3 pct. from the field and hit 7-13 (.538) from the arc. He added 4.5 rpg and 2.5 spg.
• Freshman
Tyson Batiste averaged 10.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.0 apg and 1.5 spg last week. He had a career-high 17 points (5-8 3fg) vs. Saint Francis U. and gave out a career-high five assists vs. Robert Morris.
• Senior
Tidell Pierre is the most improved rebounder in the NEC. He is averaging 7.0 rpg this year, up from 2.5 rpg last season.
Bryant Notes:
• Adam Grant put up 18.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg and shot 52.2 percent from the field en route to being named an NEC Prime Performer last week.
• Nisre Zouzoua (19.8 ppg) and Adam Grant (14.0 ppg) are the top-scoring duo in the NEC this season.
• The Bulldogs have played an NEC-record five overtime games in conference play this season. Bryant is 4-6 in games decided by five points or less or overtime.
St. Francis Brooklyn Notes:
• Freshman Rasheem Dunn averaged a team-high 12.0 ppg and 6.5 rpg last week. He set a school-record for freshman scoring with (385 pts) and leads SFBK - third among NEC rookies - with 13.3 ppg.
• Yunus Hopkinson (152) and Glenn Sanabria (109) rank 3rd and 11th, respectively, among active NEC players for career three-point field goals.
• The Terriers rank first in NEC play with a +2.50 turnover margin. SFBK commits a league-low 11.1 turnovers per game while forcing 13.6 turnovers.
Last Time Out
A run to open the second half propelled Central Connecticut past St. Francis Brooklyn, 62-53, on Thursday. The Blue Devils opened the second half with an 8-0 run to take the lead for good and win on Senior Night.
Central finished the game 26-of-54 (.481) from the field and 7-of-10 (.700) from the line. The Blue Devils had a 42-28 scoring advantage in the paint and outrebounded the Terriers, 38-33.
The Blue Devils hit their first three shots of the night and opened the game 4-of-5 from the field to build a 10-3 lead. Cumberlander and Nehls each had three-pointers in the opening spurt to build the early lead.
The Terriers pulled back into the game with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 12-12 after Jagos Lasic's three-pointer at the 12:09 mark. SFBK would take the lead and push the margin to 20-16, following a three-point play from Yunus Hopkinson.
The half would go back-and-forth from there as the score was tied seven times and the teams traded leads nine times. After Nehls hit 1-of-2 foul shots to tie the game with 33 seconds in the half, Keon Williams would hit a layup just before the buzzer to give St. Francis Brooklyn a 34-32 lead at the intermission.
The Blue Devils stormed out of the gate in the second half with a 8-0 run, punctuated by a dunk from junior
Mustafa Jones. A layup by Pierre put CCSU on top 40-34 with 16:26 to play as the Terriers were forced into three turnovers in the opening 4:00 of the second half and the Blue Devils took the lead for good.
After sophomore
Eric Bowles would score five straight for CCSU to make it, 49-42, the Terriers would cut the margin to three points. Layups from Lasic and Glenn Sanabria would get SFBK within 49-46 but a putback from Nehls would end the Blue Devils drought and the game would not be any closer. Jones would score the final five points of the game for the Blue Devils to settle the score at 62-53.
Freshman
Tyson Batiste finished with eight points and six assists, while Bowles added seven points. Whittingham grabbed six rebounds off the bench.
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.