Men's Basketball Held Off by FDU in Season Finale
The Central Connecticut men's basketball fell to Fairleigh Dickinson, 70-58, at Detrick Gymnasium on Saturday to close the Northeast Conference regular season. The Blue Devils trailed by as many as 13 points in the opening half before taking a five-point lead in the second half. The Knights would recover to build a double-digit lead en route to the win. Junior Chris Williams led Central with 14 points, while sophomore Kashaun Hicks added 10 points.
CCSU closes the season with an 11-20 record overall and 5-13 mark in the NEC. Hicks, junior Tyson Batiste and senior Deion Bute were honored before the game for Senior Day as they are all on track to graduate this spring.
Williams finished with a season-high points, while adding three assists. Hicks scored seven points after halftime. Bute added nine points, five rebounds and two blocked shots, while junior Jamir Coleman grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
The Blue Devils shot 25-of-58 (.431) overall and was 4-of-12 (.333) from the three-point arc. CCSU, which set an NEC single-season mark for team free throw percentage, finished just 4-of-7 (.571) at the foul line but finished the season shooting 78.2 percent from the line as a team.
The Knights scored the first eight points of the game. Darnell Edge and Brandon Powell hit three-pointers and a pair of Powell free throws made it 8-0 at the 16:39 mark of the opening half.
CCSU trailed, 11-2, before Bute and Hicks hit back-to-back shots and freshman Thai Segwai hit a short hoop to make it 11-8 at the 12:54 mark.
FDU would lead throughout the opening period and took its largest lead of the period five quick points. Kaleb Bishop hit a pair of foul shots to build a double-digit lead at 23-13. ABishop then hit a three-pointer to make it 26-13 with 8:12 to go in the half.
The Blue Devils would hold the Knights without a field goal for a 4:35 span and would trim the deficit to three points. Williams would score seven straight points for CCSU and his three-pointer with 1:49 to go in the half got Central within 32-29.
The Knights would get a dunk just before halftime to build a 34-29 lead at the intermission.
Central held Fairleigh Dickinson scorless for the opening 2:42 of the second half and a layup by junior Tyson Batiste was followed by five straight points by Williams. His three-pointer with 18:32 to play put the Blue Devils ahead for the first time at 36-34.
FDU tied the game momentarily at 36-36 before a three-point play by Hicks and a steal and dunk by Williams put CCSU ahead 41-36 with 16:52 to play.
Jahlil Jenkins scored five straight for FDU to tie the game and the teams would trade the lead three more times from there. A Darnell Edge three-pointer gave the Knights the lead for good, 47-45, with 11:39 to play.
Fairleigh Dickinson scored seven unanswered points to take its largest lead of the day at 67-52 after a three-point play by Bishop. Baskets by Hicks and Coleman were sandwiched around an FDU three-pointer to round out the scoring.
Bishop posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Knights. FDU shot 23-of-53 (.434) from the field and was 12-of-23 (.522) from the three-point arc. The Knights shot 12-of-15 (.857) at the foul line and had a 34-32 rebounding edge.
