Men's Basketball Falls at UMass in Season-Opener

The Central Connecticut men's basketball fell at UMass in the season-opener, 94-67, on Monday night at the Mullins Center in Amherst, MA. The Blue Devils held a lead late in the opening half before the Minutemen took an advantage into halftime before riding hot shooting to pull away.

Kellen Amos scored a game-high 24 points in his debut with Central Connecticut, but he was the only scorer in double-figures. CCSU shot 27-of-66 (.409) from the field and 9-of-29 (.310) from three-point range. CCSU went 4-of-6 (.667) at the foul line.

T.J. Weeks, Jr. paced five scorers in double-figures for UMass with 16 points. The Minutemen shot 39-of-71 (.535) overall from the field and were 9-of-19 (.474) from three-point range. UMass was 9-of-12 (.750) from the foul line.

The Blue Devils will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Manhattan for a 7:00 p.m. contest.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: CCSU 67, UMass 94
Records: CCSU (0-1), UMass (1-0)
Location: Mullins Center  | Amherst, MA

KEY MOMENTS

• Jay Rodgers and Amos scored back-to-back baskets to give CCSU an early lead. The teams would go back-and-forth with neither team holding more than a one possession lead over the opening 10 minutes.
• CCSU trailed, 26-21, before Amos scored four quick points to open a spurt of nine unanswered points. Andre Snoddy hit a three-pointer to put Central ahead, 28-26, before Amos capped the spurt to push the lead to four with 3:49 to go in the half.
• UMass closed the opening period with 12 straight points over the final 2:57. CCSU would close the half on an 0-for-5 shooting drought, while the Minutemen took a 41-33 lead into the intermission after Noah Fernandes hit a three-pointer just before the horn.
• The Minutemen scored the first four points out of the break to push the lead to double-figures before Amos hit a three-pointer to end a five-minute scoring slump for CCSU, but the Blue Devils would be unable to get any closer the rest of the way.
• UMass scored 16 unanswered points as part of a 20-4 run to go ahead 74-45 with just over eight minutes to play. The Blue Devils endured a scoreless stretch of over four minutes of the second half as the Minutemen built their largest lead of the game and pull away.

NUMBER TO KNOW

10 – Central used 12 players in the contest, with 10 of them scoring in the game.

NOTES

• UMass has won three straight in the series and leads the all-time matchups 8-7.
• The Minutement shot 71.9 percent (23-of-31) from the field in the second half.
• Kellen Amos shot 10-of-20 from the field, including 4-of-10 from three-point range in 36 minutes of action. He added three rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.
• UMass took advantage of its size, outrebounding CCSU 48-29 and holding a 52-32 scoring advantage in the paint.
• Nigel Scantlebury, Jay Rodgers and Jayden Brown all grabbed five rebounds to lead CCSU.
• Andre Snoddy had a career-high four steals to go along with seven points.

UP NEXT

 The Blue Devils pl:ay at Manhattan on Friday night in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.