Men's Basketball Pushes Georgetown, Before Falling 85-78

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team dropped to 1-1 on the season with an 85-78 loss on the road at Georgetown on Saturday night.  CCSU pushed the Hoyas to the wire, trailing by just three late in the second half, before succumbing in the closing minutes. The win moves the Hoyas to 2-0 on the season.  

The Blue Devils will open the home portion of their schedule on Tuesday night hosting UMass-Lowell beginning at 7 p.m.

Freshman Ian Krishnan led all scorers with 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 6-of-11 from the arc. Senior Tyler Kohl added 19 points and seven rebounds, while freshman Karrington Wallace had 12 points off the bench.

The game was tied 15-15 with 11:20 left in the first half before the Hoyas used a 10-4 run to take a 25-19 lead with 8:28 on the clock.  After Central cut the lead to 25-22 the Hoyas used a 10-0 run over the next six minutes to build the lead to 35-22 with just over two minutes to play before the break.

Central trailed 37-26 at the half as neither team shot well before the break.  Krishnan led the offense with 12 for the Blue Devils.  Georgetown held a slight 20-17 edge on the boards but the Blue Devils turned the ball over 11 times leading to nine Georgetown points.

Georgetown was 9-of-12 from the free throw line while CCSU didn't attempt a free throw in the first half.  Georgetown was whistled for only a pair of fouls.  The Blue Devils were 11-of-27 from the field and 4-of-14 from three.  Georgetown was 12-of-31 from the floor and 4-of-15 from three.

The Blue Devils cut the Hoya lead to 42-34 with 17:18 on the clock in the second half on the fourth three of the game from Krishnan.  His fourth three was his 20th point of the night.

Central cut the lead to 46-41 but six straight points from Jessie Govan gave the Hoyas a 52-41 lead.  Kohl ended the 6-0 run with two straight threes to make it 52-47 with just under 11 minutes to play.

The Blue Devil defense continued to push the Hoyas into bad shots, and they took advantage extending the CCSU run to 12-5 and cutting the lead to 57-53 with 7:40 to play.

CCSU would hang around and cut the deficit to 64-62 after a layup by sophomore Kashaun Hicks was followed by a  three-pointer for Krishnan, his sixth of the night, with 5:47 to play. The Blue Devils were within 70-67 after two Wallace foul shots with 4:02 left, but that was as close as it would get. 

The Hoyas would never relinquish the lead and used a 9-0 run down the stretch to pull away at the end. A three-pointer by Jemorko Pickett with 1:40 to play closed the spurt and pushed the Georgetown lead to 79-67 with 1:40 to play. 

The Blue Deviles shot 28-of-58 (.483) from the field in the game, including a scorching 12-of-25 (.480) from three point range. Central shot 54.8 percent (17-of-31) after halftime and was 8-of-11 (.727) from three-point range. 

Krishnan and Kohl scored 16 and 15 points after halftime, and Wallace scored all of his points in the second half to help Central keep it close.

The teams were even on the glass, 34-34, but Georgetown took advantage of going 20-of-26 at the foul line, while Central was just 10-of-16.

Govan led the Hoyas with 26 points and eight rebounds. Pickett hit four trifectas and finished with 12 points, while James Akinjo (13 points) and Trey Mourning (12 points) also had double-digits.