Men's Basketball Defeats Arcadia in Exhibition
The Blue Devils open the 2018-19 regular season at Hartford on Nov. 6.
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team gave fans their first chance to see the 2018-19 team in action and defeated Arcadia University, 79-72, at Detrick Gymnasium on Saturday. The Blue Devils had three players in double-figures and shot 48 percent from the field overall in the preseason tune-up.
The Blue Devils open the 2018-19 regular season at Hartford on Nov. 6 in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.
Central got a team-high 25 points from freshman Ian Krishnan, who shot 5-of-8 on three-pointers. Junior Jamir Coleman added 18 points, while senior Deion Bute scoredd 11 points. Senior Tyler Kohl finished with seven points, eight assists and six rebounds, while junior Tyson Batiste had eight points and seven rebounds.
CCSU shot 24-of-50 overall (.480) and was 8-of-19 (.421) from three-point range. The Blue Devils also shot 23-of-27 (.852) at the free throw line.
Central scored nine straight points to take the lead for good midway through the second half. Coleman opened the spurt with a three-pointer and Kohl would close it out with two foul shots to make it 57-51.
A three-pointer by Krishnan and two foul shots by Coleman would give the Blue Devils a 70-59 lead with 4:15 remaining.
Arcadia would close to within 72-70 with 1:59 remaining, but CCSU would hit 8-of-10 free throws in the final 1:39 and hold the Knights to one field goal the rest of the way to close out the win.
The Blue Devils scored the first six points of the game and would lead by as much as 34-25 in the opening period. Arcadia held CCSU scoreless for the final 3:42 of the opening period and would get seven straight points from Da'Kquan Davis to close the priod on an 11-0 run and lead 36-34 at the half.
Arcadia was led by Davis' 26 points. As a team, the Knights show 26-of-61 (.426) from the field overall. AU was just 6-of-21 (.286) on three-pointers in the game and shot just .382 (13-of-34) from the field after halftime.
CCSU will open the season against Hartford for the third straight season. The teams will tip off from Chase Arena at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 6.