Men's Basketball Hosts St. Francis Brooklyn for Senior Day on Saturday

The Blue Devils close the regular season against the Terriers and will be looking to clinch a spot in the NEC Tournament.

February 22, 2018

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team closes the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 24, against St. Francis Brooklyn in a 3:30 p.m. tip-off at Detrick Gymnasium. The contest will be the final home game for three members of the CCSU program: Mustafa Jones, Shakaris Laney and Joe Waida. The Central women host Saint Francis U in the first game of the day's doubleheader.

Saturday is also the final doubleheader that "The Voice of the Blue Devils", Joe Arnone, will announce. He will be retiring following the season and has been the PA announcer for the Blue Devils since 1962. He is in his seventh decade being affiliated with Central Connecticut and the University will celebrate his many contributions throughout the day. During halftime of the men's game he will be formally recognized and honored.

The CCSU volleyball team will also be collecting school supplies to benefit Smalley Academy in New Britain. The team will be collecting donations in the lobby of Kaiser Hall as fans enter the basketball games. Any donation is welcome, but supplies such as glue sticks, pens, crayons, notebooks, erasers, colored pencils, markers, dry erasers, folders and scissors are especially helpful.

Saturday is also Arts Meets Athletics Day to celebrate the Arts and Athletics at Central Connecticut. The event is being hosted in Kaiser Hall.

The Blue Devils are 13-17 overall and 6-11 in the Northeast Conference following Thursday's loss to Wagner. The Terriers are 13-16 overall and 10-7 in NEC play after falling to LIU Brooklyn on Thursday night. SFBK took the season's first meeting, 77-60, in Brooklyn.

The NEC Tournament presented by Startwire opens on February 28. The top eight teams in the league standings qualify for the tournament, with the top four seeds earning a home game in the quarterfinals. CCSU will claim the final NEC playoff berth and earn the #8 seed with a win or Sacred Heart loss. A CCSU loss and SHU win would put the Pioneers into the playoffs as the #8 seed. The semifinals will be played on March 3 and the NEC Championship will be played on March 6.

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.

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

GAMEDAY INFORMATION | Detrick Gymnasium (New Britain, CT)

CCSU (13-17, 6-11 NEC) vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (13-16, 10-7 NEC) | Saturday, Feb. 24 | 3:30 PM
VIDEO (NEC FrontRow) | LIVE STATS | @KizerBlueDevil (In-game twitter updates)

COMPLETE GAME NOTES | 2017-18 NCAA Rules Review Video

TODAY'S GAME • Central Connecticut closes the regular season on Saturday against St. Francis Brooklyn. The matchup will be streamed live, and for free, at www.NECFrontRow.com.

SERIES HISTORY • The Blue Devils and Terriers are meeting for the 52nd time in the series. St. Francis Brooklyn leads the series, 28-23, and won the first meeting this season, 77-60, on Jan. 11 in Brooklyn.

LAST TIME OUT • CCSU fell to Wagner, 64-62, on a last-second shot at Detrick Gymnasium in Northeast Conference action on Thursday night. Joe Hugley led CCSU with a game-high 17 points, while Austin Nehls chipped in with 15 points on five three-pointers. CCSU held a three-point lead at the break after hitting 7-of-12 three-pointers. Wagner scored the first five points of the second half and held CCSU to 4-of-14 shooting to open the period, while building a 52-44 lead with 9:10 to play. CCSU trailed by five late, before Tyler Kohl would hit a three-pointer with just under a minute to play to get Central within two points. After a missed shot by the Seahawks, Kohl would drive the lane and lay it off to Deion Bute who hit the game-tying layup with 0:07 to play. On the final possession, JoJo Cooper went the length of the court and hit a fall-away jumper with 0:00.3 seconds remaining for the winning shot, 64-62. CCSU would inbound, but a final heave was just off the mark.

SENIOR DAY • Today is the final home game for three members of the Blue Devils program. Team manager Joe Waida, along with Mustafa Jones and Shakaris Laney will be honored prior to the game for their contributions to the CCSU basketball program.

NEC TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS • CCSU will claim the final NEC playoff berth and earn the #8 seed with a win or Sacred Heart loss. A CCSU loss and SHU win would put the Pioneers into the playoffs as the #8 seed.

UP NEXT • The NEC Tournament presented by Startwire opens on February 28. The top eight teams in the league standings qualify for the tournament, with the top four seeds earning a home game in the quarterfinals. CCSU will claim the final NEC playoff berth and earn the #8 seed with a win or Sacred Heart loss. A CCSU loss and SHU win would put the Pioneers into the playoffs as the #8 seed. The semifinals will be played on March 3 and the NEC Championship will be played on March 6. A complete look at the tiebreaker scenarios is here.