Jones Scores 33 and Lively Crowd Lifts Men's Basketball by Sacred Heart, 77-70

February 8, 2024

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team got a career-high 33 points from Jordan Jones and outscored Sacred Heart, 77-70, on Thursday in Northeast Conference action. Jones scored 22 points in the second half as the Blue Devils remained atop the league standings, while playing in front of their largest home crowd of the season.

Jones finished the game 11-of-16 from the field. Jayden Brown chipped in with 11 points. As a team, CCSU shot 27-of-54 (.500) overall and 9-of-22 (.409) from three-point range. The Blue Devils were 14-of-17 (.824) at the foul line.

Joey Reilly led the Pioneers with 17 points. SHU shot 26-of-61 (.426) overall and 9-of-20 (.450) on three-pointers. The Pioneers were 9-of-13 (.692) at the foul line.

The Blue Devils host FDU at 1:00 p.m. Saturday in a game to be shown on ESPN+ and the YES Network.

GAME INFORMATION| BOX SCORE

Score: CCSU 77, Sacred Heart 70
Records: CCSU (14-9, 8-2 NEC), SHU (12-13, 6-4 NEC)
Location: Detrick Gym | New Britain, CT

KEY MOMENTS

Sacred Heart opened the game making 5-of-7 from the field and forced a CCSU timeout at 15:59 after going up 12-6. Jordan Jones started the game 2-of-3 shooting, while the rest of the Blue Devils were just 2-of-7. The Pioneers led by as much as 16-8 in the opening 5:32.
The Blue Devils would score five straight to make it a one-point game at 20-19 after a three-pointer by Joe Ostrowsky and a layup by Jones. CCSU would eventually tie it at 28. Davonte Sweatman would make a driving layup and then after Jones missed a jumper, an offensive rebound would get the ball back to him for a three-pointer with 3:11 to go in the half.
Central would take its first lead of the game with six straight points. A three-point play by Jayden Brown and then a three-pointer by Kellen Amos made it 34-30 before SHU would make it a two-point game at halftime.
CCSU would run off seven straight points to build a 44-37 lead. A dunk by Tre Breland would be followed by five straight points from Jones. He hit his first three shots after halftime and capped the run at the 17:11 mark to make it a seven-point lead.
CCSU would hold SHU without a field goal for over three minutes and scored six straight to push the lead to double-figures. Jones had four of the points, including two foul shots to make it 53-42 with 12:08 to play.
SHU would cut the lead to 64-58 with 5:12 to play after Raheem Solomon and Joey Reilly would make a pair of trifectas. The Pioneers got within 69-67 with 2:21 to go, but a three-pointer by Tre Breland and two foul shots by Allan Jeanne-Rose made it 74-67 and SHU got no closer than four points the rest of the way.

NUMBER TO KNOW

2,023 – The attendance for the game was the largest home crowd of the season for CCSU.

NOTES

CCSU leads the all-time series, 38-35, and ended a 15-game slide in the series winning for the first time over SHU since Feb. 21, 2015.
Jones was 7-of-9 from the field in the second half as CCSU shot 14-of-24 (.583) after halftime. Jones added a team-high four steals.
Brown was 3-of-5 from the field and 5-of-6 at the foul line. He had two blocked shots.
CCSU was -4 in turnover differential, but outscored SHU 17-11 on points off turnovers.
Tre Breland finished with nine points, a team-high eight rebounds and three steals.
Kellen Amos added eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.
The Blue Devils outrebounded SHU, 35-29, and had a 12-2 advantage in second-chance points.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils host FDU at 1:00 p.m. Saturday in a game to be shown on ESPN+ and the YES Network.

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