Men's Basketball Falls to Le Moyne in Final Seconds on Friday

January 19, 2024

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team fell at home to Le Moyne, 75-73, on Friday night in New Britain, CT. The Dolphins rebounded a Blue Devils miss and went the length of the court to score the game-winner with just a second remaining.

Jordan Jones matched a personal-best and led all scorers with 22 points, while Tre Breland added a career-high 16 points. Kellen Amos finished with 13 points. CCSU shot 28-of-65 (.431) overall, but was just 7-of-23 (.304) from three-point range. Central went 10-of-16 (.625) at the foul line.

Kaiyem Clearly led four players in double-figures for Le Moyne with 19 points. Le Moyne shot 28-of-62 (.452) overall and 13-of-31 (.419) on three-pointers. The Dolphins were 6-of-7 (.857) at the foul line.

The Blue Devils travel to LIU for a 7:00 p.m. game on Sunday

GAME INFORMATION

Score: CCSU 73, LE MOYNE 75
Records: CCSU (9-8, 3-1 NEC), LMC (7-11, 2-2 NEC)
Location: Detrick Gymnasium | New Britain, CT

KEY MOMENTS

Le Moyne built a 12-5 lead just over 5:30 into the game, forcing a CCSU timeout. Central would open the game making just 2-of-12 from the field, but Tre Breland stemmed a 6-0 run with a layup at the 14:11 mark to cut the deficit to five.
CCSU would use a 7-0 run over a span of nearly four minutes to tie the game. A arcing hook shot in the paint from Abdul Momoh would tie the game at the 11:20 mark. The Dolphins would quickly respond with seven straight points to regain the lead midway through the opening half.
The Blue Devils fell behind 28-19, before running off nine unanswered in a span of 1:46. Breland would hit a three-pointer in the spurt and then tied it at the 3:58 mark with a dunk.
The Blue Devils would take their first lead of the night just before halftime by scoring six straight points. Kellen Amos would make consecutive layups before Breland finished down low to make it 34-33. The Dolphins would draw a foul on a three-pointer just before the horn and converted 2-of-3 foul shots to lead 35-34 at the break.
The Dolphins opened the second half with a three-pointer and extended the lead to 46-39 with 16:58 remaining on the back of a quick 6-0 run. Le Moyne would go ahead by double-digits with 14:04 to play after a Nate McClure three-pointer made it 53-43.
Four straight points by Jordan Jones ignited a 10-0 run for CCSU to tie the game with 7:58 to play. Jones had six points in the run and assisted on a dunk by Amos before a layup by Joe Ostrowsky knotted the game at 58-58.
Central would erase a four-point deficit in the final 1:52, tying the game on a three-pointer by Jones with 54 seconds to play. The Blue Devils would rebound a Le Moyne miss with 0:28 left, setting up a chance for a game-winner. The Dolphins stymied CCSU's drive and cleared the rebound to go the length of the court for the game-winning layup by McClure with one-second left.

NUMBER TO KNOW

13 – The game featured a total of 13 ties and lead changes, while Le Moyne also hit 13 three-pointers – a season-high for a CCSU opponent.

NOTES

The teams were meeting for the first time as Division I opponents.
Jones finished the game shooting 7-of-11 from the field with seven rebounds and four assists. He scored 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the second half.
Breland went 7-of-14 from the floor and grabbed six rebounds with an assist, a steal and a block.
Amos and Allan Jeanne-Rose each had a team-high eight rebounds.
Joe Ostrowsky matched a season-high with three steals.
Central shot 14-of-25 (56.0%) from the field in the second half, including 5-of-10 on three-pointers.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils travel to LIU for a 7:00 p.m. game on Sunday night.

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