The Central Connecticut men's basketball team plays its final regular-season road game on Saturday night at Robert Morris. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at the A.J. Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne University. Seven postseason spots in the Northeast Conference have been claimed, while CCSU currently holds the final spot and has a one-game lead on Sacred Heart.
The Blue Devils are 12-16 overall and 5-10 in the Northeast Conference. The Colonials are 15-13 overall and 9-6 in NEC play, among a cluster of four teams tied for second in the standings. The teams played each other in New Britain, CT, on Dec. 31, 2017, with RMU coming away with a 71-57 win.
RMU is currently in a four-way tie for second in the league standings and has won two straight, while CCSU holds a one-game lead for the final NEC tournament berth and will be looking to end a six-game slide. The top eight teams qualify for the league tournament, while the top four teams will host a quarterfinal game.
All CCSU home games and Northeast Conference games are available to watch online, for free, at NECFrontRow.com.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION | AJ Palumbo Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
CCSU (12-16, 5-10 NEC) at Robert Morris (15-13, 9-6 NEC) | Saturday, Feb. 17 | 7:00 PM
VIDEO (NEC FrontRow) | LIVE STATS | @KizerBlueDevil (In-game twitter updates)
COMPLETE GAME NOTES | 2017-18 NCAA Rules Review Video
THURSDAY'S GAME • Central Connecticut plays its final road game of the Northeast Conference regular season at Robert Morris. The Colonials won the season's first meeting, 71-57, on Dec. 31. The game is available to stream online, for free, at
www.NECFrontRow.com
SERIES HISTORY • The Blue Devils and Colonials are meeting for the 40th time in series history. RMU leads the series, 23-16, and has won three straight against CCSU, including the season's first meeting at Detrick Gymnasium on Dec. 31.
LAST TIME OUT • CCSU erased a double-digit deficit in the second half before falling in overtime at Saint Francis U, 77-71, on Thursday night at DeGol Arena.
Tyler Kohl led CCSU with 28 points and 13 rebounds, while
Austin Nehls scored 11 points and became the 37th Blue Devil to score 1,000 career points. Central opened the game's scoring before the Red Flash scored four straight to take the lead for the rest of the first half. SFU used a 9-1 run to push the lead to double-digits. SFU scored the first four points after halftime to push the lead to 39-23 before Central began to rally. CCSU used a 14-4 spurt to cut the lead to six and force a Red Flash timeout. After an SFU hoop, CCSU took the lead with a 13-0 run. The Blue Devils led 60-54 with 5:09 to play, but the Red Flash would hold CCSU to one point and got a three-pointer with 4.9 seconds left to send the game to overtime, 61-61. In overtime, the Red Flash would hit 9-of-10 at the foul line in the final 1:59 to pull out a 77-71 win.
UP NEXT • CCSU closes the regular season with home games against Wagner (Feb. 22) and St. Francis Brooklyn (Feb. 24) next weekend.
