Men's Basketball Leads Throughout in 84-57 Win Over Maine
Central travels to UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon.
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team led wire-to-wire in an 84-57 win over Maine on Wednesday night at Detrick Gymnasium. The Blue Devils shot 52.5 percent from the field as a team, while holding the Black Bears to just 27.3 percent shooting. Junior Tyler Kohl led four in double-figures with 18 po9ints and 14 rebounds, to go with six assists.
CCSU improves to 6-6 overall on the season, while Maine slips to 3-10 overall. With the win at Detrick Gymnasium, Central improved to 3-0 in home games for the first time since 2011-12.
Central returns to action when it travels to UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon.
Kohl went 8-of-16 from the field, while posting his second double-double of the year. Junior Austin Nehls went 4-of-5 from the arc and finished with 15 points, while junior Deion Bute added 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Redshirt freshman Kashaun Hicks came of the bench to score 10 points with six rebounds.
The Blue Devils opened the game scoring the first six points and grabbed control from the start. Bute would hit back-to-back layups to force a Maine timeout after making it 6-0.
Central led throughout the opening period and did not allow the Black Bears closer than 8-5 in the early going. CCSU would close the half on a 7-0 run to take its largest lead of the period after two foul shots by Kohl would make it 44-28 at the break.
CCSU would extend the lead with a Bute layup and a three-pointer by junior Austin Nehls to push to make it 53-33 early in the second half. The Blue Devils would never lead by fewer than 18 the rest of the way following a Maine layup on the next possession.
A layup by Bute with 7:10 to play would give Central its largest lead of the night at 73-44. Maine would be unable to get closer than 80-55 in the final minutes.
Central finished the game 31-of-59 (.525) from the field, marking the fourth time this season shooting better than 50 percent. The Blue Devils outrebounded the Black Bears, 44-28, and committed just 10 turnovers.
Maine shot 18-of-66 for the game, including 6-of-31 (.194) from three-point range. Aaron Calixte led the Black Bears with 16 points.
CCSU will take to the road to face UMass Lowell on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
