Men's Basketball Falls to 0-2 at Purdue
Drakeford has first double-double of the season
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team dropped to 0-2 on the season with a 109-73 loss on the road at Purdue on Wednesday night. Junior Faronte Drakeford led the Blue Devils with 16 points and 11 rebounds on the night, both career-highs in his second game as a Blue Devil. The double-double is the first for Drakeford at CCSU, and the first for the Blue Devils this season.
Purdue is now 2-0 with the victory. Central returns to action on Saturday afternoon playing at Northeastern at 4 p.m.
Central led by as any as six in the first half, but the Boilermakers used an 18-0 run to climb out to a big first half lead, and led 54-32 at halftime. During the run the Blue Devils went cold from the field, finally stopping the run with a Drakeford bucket with 8:50 left in the first half.
Drakeford led all scorers at the break with 14. He hit 7-of-10 from the field. Central was just 15-of-40 from the field before halftime, but held a slight 24-23 advantage on the boards. Drakeford had eight.
Junior Kyle Vinales had a big second half for CCSU, posting his 30th career game with 20 or more points. He scored 20 points in the half and finished the game with 22 points to lead the Blue Devils. He hit three threes and added three assists. He went over 1,200 career points in his career at CCSU.
Drakeford's 16 points came on 8-of-15 shooting. He also added two assists, one block and two steals on the night. Central had seven steals in the game. Freshman Matt Mobley added 10 points for a new career-high.
Senior Terrell Allen added nine points and seven rebounds in the loss. He was 4-of-11 from the field and added an assist and a steal.
Purdue was led by Terone Johnson who had 17 points. A.J. Hammons had 12 points, seven blocks and five rebounds for the Boilermakers.
The Blue Devils return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Northeastern. Fans can listen in Hartford on Fox Sports Radio 1410, in New Haven on ESPN Radio 1300 and online and on their mobile device at www.iHeartRadio.com.
