Men's Basketball Shoots Past UMass Lowell, 86-74, in Home Opener

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team shot 52.7% as a team and cruised to a 86-74 win over UMass Lowell at Detrick Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Senior Tyler Kohl scored 26 points and freshman Ian Krishnan added 22 points for the Blue Devils. Central improved to 2-1 on the season with the win.

The Blue Devils travel to the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic this weekend. CCSU plays Austin Peay on Friday before facing Florida A&M on Sunday.

Central led 13-11 in the early going before Krishnan hit a three-pointer and Kohl followed with back-to-back trifectas to make it 22-11 at the 13:08 mark of the first half. Kohl would total 15 points in the first eight minutes of the game to jumpstart the CCSU offense.

UMass Lowell would get no closer than 33-26 the rest of the period. CCSU closed the period on a 12-4 spurt and after a Krishnan bucket just before the intermission, Central led 52-35 at halftime. 

The Blue Devils shot a scorching 66.7% (18-27) in the opening half and hit 9-of-12 (.750) from three-point range.

The River Hawks would trim the Central lead to 63-51 with 13:25 to play, but a trio of foul shots by Krishnan would push the lead back to 66-51 and the game would get no closer the rest of the way. 

CCSU would lead by as much as 81-57 with 7:22 to play before the River Hawks scored the final eight points of the game to trim the final margin.

Central finished the night shooting 52.7% (29-55) from the field, and 12-of-24 (.500). The Blue Devils shot 16-of-18 (.889) from the foul line. 

The teams were even rebounding 31-31, with Kohl grabbing a game-high eight boards. 

Ryan Jones led four River Hawks in double-figures with 18 points.