The Central Connecticut men's basketball makes its return to the Northeast Conference Tournament presented by Startwire with a quarterfinal matchup at top-seeded Wagner on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. The game at Spiro Sports Center will be streamed to watch online, for free, at NECFrontRow.com.
The Blue Devils are 14-17 overall and went 7-11 in the Northeast Conference to earn the eight seed. Central is making its first trip to the postseason under second-year head coach Donyell Marshall and returning to the NEC tournament for the first time since 2013-14.
Wagner (21-8, 14-4 NEC) enters the postseason after winning its third NEC regular season title. Wagner has earned the NEC's automatic berth to the Postseason NIT. The Seahawks have gone 14-0 at home this season and will host games as long as it remains alive in the tournament. Only five schools have posted perfect home records in the history of the league with four of the five winning the NEC title.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION | Spiro Sports Center (Staten Island, NY)
CCSU (14-17, 7-11 NEC) at Wagner (21-8, 14-4 NEC) | Wednesday, Feb. 28 | 7:00 PM
VIDEO (NEC FrontRow) | LIVE STATS | @KizerBlueDevil (In-game twitter updates)
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT PREVIEW | NORTHEAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HQ
COMPLETE GAME NOTES | CCSU MEN'S BASKETBALL RECORD BOOK | 2017-18 NCAA Rules Review Video
TODAY'S GAME • Central Connecticut earned the #8 seed in the NEC Tournament with a win on Saturday to close the regular season. CCSU travels to #1 Wagner for a quarterfinals matchup. The two teams played last Thursday in New Britain. The Seahawks won 64-62. The matchup will be streamed live, and for free, at
www.NECFrontRow.com.
SERIES HISTORY • The Blue Devils and Seahawks are meeting for the 48th time in the series. Wagner leads the series, 27-20, and has won seven straight meetings. The Seahawks won both regular season meetings, including a two-point win in New Britain on Feb. 22. CCSU has fallen to Wagner in all three NEC Tournament meetings.
CCSU TOURNAMENT NOTES • CCSU is back in the NEC Tournament for the first time since 2013-14. Prior to that hiatus, the Blue Devils had qualified for 16 consecutive NEC tourneys... This is Central's first trip to the NEC Tournament under second-year head coach Donyell Marshall. No player on CCSU's roster has played in the NEC Tournament... CCSU is 15-13 all-time in the NEC Tournament, having won three titles (2000, 2002, 2007)... The Blue Devils were seeded #1 on all three occasions... Central's last three NEC Tournament games have been at Wagner. CCSU lost all three quarterfinal matchups... CCSU is 6-5 all-time in NEC tourney games at the Spiro Sports Center... The Blue Devils are 9-7 all-time in the NEC Tournament vs. teams in the field in 2018. Central is 5-9 this season against the tournament field... A #8 seed has never beat the #1 seed in NEC Tournament action (34-0)... The Blue Devils are making their second appearance as the #8 seed. In 2005, top-seeded Monmouth escaped CCSU with a buzzer-beating layup to prevent the upset... The Blue Devils have never won a true road game in the NEC Tournament. They are 0-9 as the road team in tournament action.
LAST TIME OUT • The Blue Devils secured their spot in the NEC Tournament with a 78-75 overtime win against St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday to close the regular season. CCSU trailed by nine points early in the second half, but would chip away at the deficit and a three-pointer by sophomore
Joe Hugley would make it 60-59 with 6:32 left. After a SFBK layup, a layup by junior
Tyler Kohl and a dunk by Jones would give CCSU a 63-62 lead. A 7-0 run gave the Terriers a six-point edge, but CCSU rallied late. Back-to-back hoops would cut the deficit to two, and senior
Shakaris Laney came up with a steal with 22 seconds to play that led to game-tying foul shots from sophomore
Eric Bowles. In overtime, Bowles would slash through the lane for the go-ahead layup with 42 seconds to play and two foul shots from Kohl pushed the lead to three points. SFBK got of a three-pointer, but it was off the mark as time expired.
UP NEXT • The winner advances to the NEC semifinals on Saturday, March 3. Following the quarterfinals, the teams will be reseeded so the highest remaining seed hosts the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals.
