Men's Basketball Downed at Rhode Island in Season-Opener

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team dropped their season-opener at Rhode Island, 81-70, on Monday at the Ryan Center in Kingston, RI. The difference in the game came during a seven-minute span in the second half when the Blue Devils were held scoreless and the Rams built their largest lead of the game.

Allan Jeanne-Rose led a trio of Blue Devils with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including a trio of three-pointers. As a team, CCSU shot 28-of-67 (.418) overall and 5-of-21 (.238) from three-point range. The Blue Devils were 9-of-13 (.692) at the foul line.

Jaden House scored a game-high 25 points to pace four Rams in double-figures. URI shot 32-of-57 (.561) overall and 5-of-12 (.412) on three-pointers. URI was 12-of-23 (.522) at the foul line.

The Blue Devils travel to Quinnipiac for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff.

GAME INFORMATION

Score:  CCSU 70, Rhode Island 81
Records: CCSU (0-1), URI (1-0)
Location: Ryan Center | Kingston, RI

KEY MOMENTS

• Central jumped out to a 7-2 lead after a three-pointer by Allan Jeanne-Rose, before URI came back with 10 straight points over a three-minute span. A layup by Jaden House would make it 12-7 before another trifecta by Jeanne-Rose interrupted the run with 14:02 to play in the period.
• URI would outscore CCSU 9-2 over a two-minute span to push its lead to double-figures. After a jumper by Davonte Sweatman made it 23-17 at the 10:30 mark, the Rams would only allow a Jeanne-Rose layup over the next two minutes. URI would score seven unanswered to extend its lead to 33-19 with 8:24 left in the half.
• The Blue Devils would endure a 2-for-10 shooting stretch at the close of the opening half before a driving layup by Sweatman with 0:32 left in the period. URI would respond by banking a shot in at the buzzer to go into halftime with a 47-31 lead. The Rams closed the period making 5-of-6.
• After URI hit a three-pointer to open the second half, CCSU ran off a 9-0 run to get within 50-40. Sweatman had four points in the spurt, including a layup to cut the deficit to 10 with 17:50 to play. Back-to-back baskets by Jeanne-Ros would make it a single-digit contest with 16:34 to play at 53-44.
• Rhode Island would come back with a 15-0 run to push the lead back to double-digits. The Blue Devils would miss 11 straight shots and were held scoreless for nearly seven minutes as the Rams extended their lead to 68-44 with 10:41 to play.
• Central would hold URI without a field goal over the final three-plus minutes and outscored the Rams, 26-13, over the final 10:40 and settled the final margin with a three-pointer by Joe Ostrowsky with 0:20 to play.

NUMBER TO KNOW

0 – The Blue Devils' starting frontcourt of Allan Jeanne-Pierre and Jayden Brown did not commit a turnover in a combined 47 minutes of action. The duo had a combined five assists, three steals and three blocked shots.

NOTES

• The teams were meeting for the third time. URI has won the first two meetings.
• Jeanne-Rose added five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot in 24 minutes in his first appearance at CCSU.
• Sweatman chipped in 12 points, three rebounds and a steal.
• Jayden Brown scored 11 points with two rebounds and two blocked shots. He matched a career-high with three assists and did not have a turnover in 23 minutes.
• CCSU had 15 offensive rebounds that it converted into 19 second chance points.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils travel to Quinnipiac for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff.

Follow @CCSUBlueDevils on Twitter and CCSUBlueDevils.com for updates.