Men's Basketball Heads to NYC on Thursday to Take on St. Francis Brooklyn

The Blue Devils play their third straight road game before returning home this weekend.

January 10, 2018

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team travels to Mount St. Mary's for a 4:00 p.m. contest on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils will be looking to bounce back from back-to-back Northeast Conference defeats, while the Mount picked up its first league win on Thursday.

CCSU led by as many as 12 points in the second half before FDU rallied for the 81-77 win. The Mountaineers had six players score in double-figures in its 96-80 win over Bryant.

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

GAMEDAY INFORMATION | Pope PEC (Brooklyn, NY)

CCSU (8-9, 1-3 NEC) at St. Francis Brooklyn (5-11, 2-2 NEC) | Thursday, Jan. 11 | 7:00 PM
VIDEO (NECFrontRow) | LIVE STATS | @KizerBlueDevil (In-game Twitter updates)

GAME NOTES | 2017-18 NCAA Rules Review Video

TODAY'S GAME • Central Connecticut travels to Brooklyn to face St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday night. CCSU will be looking to stop its three-game slide, while the Terriers have dropped back-to-back games on the road.

SERIES HISTORY • The Blue Devils and Terriers are meeting for the 51st time. St. Francis Brooklyn leads the all-time series, 27-23, but CCSU won the last meeting between the teams, 62-53, on Feb. 23, 2017.

LAST TIME OUT • Mount St. Mary's made 11 three-pointers in the second half to pull away from CCSU, 78-51, on Saturday at Knott Arena. The Blue Devils were led by senior Mustafa Jones and junior Deion Bute in the scoring column. The Blue Devils were limited to shooting .375 (21-of-56) in the game and just 3-of-19 (.158) from three-point range, while the Mountaineers hit .500 (28-of-56) overall and 16-of-33 (.485) from the arc in the game. The teams traded leads twice in the opening period. Central would score six straight points to take an early four-point lead. Jones hit a jumper and was followed by baskets from Bute and sophomore Joe Hugley to make it 8-4 at the 13:49 mark. The Mountaineers would take their first lead of the day following seven unanswered points. Bobby Planutis hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 10-10. Junior Robinson and Ryan Gomes followed with layups to make it 14-10 midway through the half. The Mount would push the lead to as much as five points, but consecutive jumpers from Jones and a three-point play by Bute bookended a jumper by MSM's Greg Alexander to make it 27-27 at halftime. Mount St. Mary's outscored Central, 11-3, to open the second half and take the lead for good. The Mount would push the lead to double-figures with a 12-0 run midway through the period. MSM would hit a three-pointer on four straight possessions. Mount St. Mary's would lead by as much as 78-49 with 1:36 to play before the Blue Devils got two foul shots from freshman Kashaun Hicks for the final margin.

HUGLEY'S HUGE NIGHT • Sophomore Joe Hugley had his first double-double with 33 points and 12 rebounds, both career-highs, at Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday. He shot 10-20 overall and 5-11 from the arc. The 33 points, in a career-high 32 minutes, was the first 30-point outing by a Blue Devil since Matt Mobley scored 31 at Bryant on Feb. 26, 2015. Hugley's five three-pointers marked the third time this season a Blue Devil had five or more in a game (Austin Nehls: 6 at Hartford, 5 at ECU).

BLUE DEVILS BALANCE THE SCORING • Five Blue Devils currently average double-figures and seven different players have scored 20 points in a game, including sophomore Joe Hugley's 33-point outing at FDU. Central has been at its best when it has balanced scoring on the offensive end. When three or more Blue Devils score in double-figures, they are 8-3 on the season. CCSU has gone 7-1 when four or more score at least 10 points in a game.

BLUE DEVILS SIGN TWO FOR 2018-19 • Head coach Donyell Marshall announced the signings of Michael Underwood and Karrington Wallace to join the squad in 2018-19. Underwood is a 6-foot-5 wing from Southwest HS (Fort Worth, TX). A shooter, he earned District 7-5A Offensive MVP as a junior. Wallace, a 6-foot-7 forward from Archbishop Wood (Warminster, PA) helped the Vikings go 28-3 and win a 5A state title in 2017.

UP NEXT • Central will return home to host Bryant on Saturday, Jan. 13, at 3:30 p.m. The Blue Devils have gone 4-1 at Detrick Gymnasium on the year.