Men Finish Regular Season with Loss
Central will be the #7 seed in next week's NEC Tournament
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team finished the regular season with an 81-61 loss at home to regular season champion Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon. The loss drops the Blue Devils to 13-16 overall and 9-9 in league play. They will be the seventh seed in next week's conference tournament.
Robert Morris finishes the regular season 22-9 overall and 14-4 in the league, and will be the top seed next week.
Robert Morris led from the start, and by as many as 27 in the second half. The Blue Devils shot poorly from the field in the first half, hitting just 10-of-30 from the floor and 0-of-9 from three. They trailed 43-24 at the break.
The Colonials hit nine threes in the first half, and shot 47 percent from the field. They shot 48 percent from the game (30-of-62) and had 19 assists on 30 buckets.
The Blue Devils turned the ball over 19 times in the game, leading to 25 Robert Morris points. They did however outrebound the Colonials 41-34, including 15 on the offensive end of the floor.
Junior Matt Hunter led the way for the Blue Devils scoring 17 points and grabbing nine rebounds and adding five steals. Sophomore Kyle Vinales had 11 points and three assists, but struggled from the field hitting just 3-of-15 shots. Freshman Brandon Peel added 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
Robert Morris saw all five starters score in double-figures, led by 20 from Russell Johnson and 17 from Coron Williams.
Central will be the #7 seed in next week's NEC Tournament, and will play on the road on Wednesday night at Wagner, Quinnipiac or LIU Brooklyn. Check back later on Saturday night for more information.