Central Comes Up Short at #7/7 Syracuse
Blue Devils open conference play on Thursday night
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team dropped its fourth straight game on Monday, falling 96-62 to #7 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. The game was the second of the season for the Blue Devils against a top-10 team. It also marked the final non-conference game of the season for CCSU.
The crowd of 17,550 was the largest regular season crowd the Blue Devils have ever played in front of, topping the 17,472 set earlier this season at Indiana.
Junior Matt Hunter led the way for the Blue Devils with his second career double-double scoring 18 points and grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds. Sophomore Kyle Vinales added 14 points. Classmate Adonis Burbage had 13 points and five rebounds, all but three coming in the second half. Junior Terrell Allen was the fourth Blue Devil in double-figures with 13 points.
Syracuse is now 12-1 on the season and is ranked seventh in the most recent polls which came out on Monday. They are 10-0 at home and have won 32 straight in the Carrier Dome, the longest home streak in the nation.
With the loss the Blue Devils drop to 4-7 overall and have finished non-conference play. They play at St. Francis (PA) on Thursday night and Robert Morris on Saturday, also at 7 p.m.
The Blue Devils led 15-13 with 11:45 to play i the first half and made 3-of-6 from three, including two from Vinales. A three from sophomore Adonis Burbage made it a two point lead.
Central continued to play well on both ends of the floor and led 21-18 after the third three form Vinales. The Orange went on a 29-5 run to end the half to take the 47-26 lead at the break.
The Orange continued to produce in the second half, building the lead to 73-40 with 11:39 on the clock. Burbage scored the first 10 points of the half for Central, including a pair of threes.
The lead reached 86-48 at the under eight media timeout as the Orange hit their 10th three of the game.
Syracuse proved to be too much on the boards in the game, outrebounding CCSU 57-32 on their way to securing win #902 for head coach Jim Boeheim, tying for second place all-time with former Indiana and Texas Tech head coach Bobby Knight.
The Blue Devils open league play on Thursday on the road at St. Francis (PA) facing the Red Flash beginning at 7 p.m. Fans can listen to the game live on Fox Sports Radio 1410 and ESPN Radio 1300 as well as online at www.iHeartRadio.com.
