Men's Basketball Downs Nyack in Exhibition Contest

Four players scored in double-figures to lead the Central Connecticut men's basketball team past Nyack College, 65-62, in an exhibition game on Thursday night at Detrick Gymnasium. Junior Tyler Kohl scored a game-high 21 points to go with nine rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Blue Devils.

Central opens the 2017-18 regular season on Friday, Nov. 10, at Hartford in an 8:00 p.m. tipoff.

Senior Mustafa Jones and junior Austin Nehls added 12 points apiece and sophomore Joe Hugley scored 11 points off the bench to go with seven rebounds. 

Central would lead by as many as five points in the first half, the last lead coming midway through the period after a layup by Harrison Kay made it 20-15.

The Warriors would use an 8-0 run to build a four-point lead at 26-22 after a layup by Jah-Meer McDuffie. 

CCSU trailed, 31-26, at halftime but opened the second half with a 10-1 run capped off by a dunk by Jones with 16:35 to play to make it 36-32. Kohl added four points in the spurt, while sophomore Tyson Batiste had a pair of assists in the run.

The teams would go back-and-forth until the Warriors took their final lead at 55-50, following seven straight points. Following a 30-second timeout, the Blue Devils would score seven straight points to retake the lead and did not trail the rest of the way. Junior Deion Bute would hit a foul shot to make it 57-55 with 3:52 to play.

The Central defense would limit the Warriors to just one field goal during a five-minute span down the stretch and the Blue Devils would hit 8-of-10 at the foul line in the final 1:32 to close out the scoring.

CCSU shot 43.8 percent (21-of-48) from the field for the game and outrebounded Nyack, 36-27. The Warriors shot 41.1 percent (23-of-56) from the field for the game.

The Blue Devils open the 2017-18 season on Friday, Nov. 10 at Hartford.