Men's Basketball Returns to Action Sunday Afternoon

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team retuns to action following the Thanksgiving break to host Maine on Sunday afternoon. The tip off for the men's tilt is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. and will follow the women's game against New Hampshire slated for 1:00 p.m. The Blue Devils are coming off an 81-75 loss to Binghamton on Tuesday, but shot 54.8 percent from the field in the second half. CCSU will be looking for its first win of the season after slipping to 0-4.

Tickets can be purchased at CCSUTickets.com or at the box office upon entry. Admission for all CCSU students, faculty and staff is free of charge with a valid Blue Chip card. For fans who cannot attend, all the action can be seen live, for free, on NECFrontRow.com.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
CCSU vs. Maine |  4:00 PM  |  Live Stats  |  NEC FrontRow  |  Listen

Today
  The Blue Devils are facing their second straight opponent from the America East Conference. Central is coming off an 81-75 loss to Binghamton on Tuesday, while Maine got past Longwood, 92-82, on Wednesday. This will be the 13th all-time meeting between the two schools

Series Notes:
• Maine leads, 9-3
• First Meeting: 1951-52 (CCSU 76-41)
• Last Meeting: Dec. 13, 1993 (Maine 114-87)
• Last CCSU Win: Feb. 13, 1986 (72-71)

Peel Leads NEC Returnees
• Not only is forward Brandon Peel the only senior for CCSU, but he is among the returning senior stats leaders of the Northeast Conference.
• Peel is the NEC's active scoring leader with 671 career points and he is just one of eight players in the league to enter the season with at least 500 points.
• With two double-doubles to open the season, Peel is unsurprisingly the league's active career leading rebounder with 658 boards in his career.
• Peel is also the NEC's active leader with 138 blocked shots.

Cumberlander's Consistency
• Junior Khalen Cumberlander is Central's leading scorer at 16.0 points per game and has scored double-figures in every game.
• Cumberlander nearly notched a triple-double in the opener with 19 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.
• The double-double was the first of Cumberlander's career and he notched career-highs in both rebounds (12) and assists (8).
• Dating back to last season, Cumberlander has scored double-figures in each of his past eight games.

Common Opponents
• After Sunday's game, Central will have played three of its first five games against America East schools. CCSU will be Maine's third Northeast Conference foe. They have already played LIU Brooklyn (L, 79-84) and Wagner (L, 73-87).
• Other common CCSU opponents Maine will play include Boston College (Dec. 13), Fordham (Dec. 19) and Brown (Jan. 2). Maine lost to Connecticut, 100-56, on Nov. 13.

History - 1,074 Wins
• This season marks the 79th season of Central basketball.
• CCSU's first year of competition was the 1934-35 season under coach Harrison J. Kaiser, whom the athletic building is named after.
• Central carries an overall record of 1,074-871 for a .552 winning percentage.

Dickenman in Overtime
• Central fell to Hartford, 92-83, in double-overtime in the opener.
• CCSU has played 32 overtime game under head coach Howie Dickenman and have a 22-10 record in 20 seasons.
• CCSU had won five straight OT games dating to Jan. 26, 2012 (56-58, Monmouth).

Sharing The Scoring
• Central had four players score double figures against Binghamton, the second time in four games that CCSU has had four or more players reach double-digits.
• With five players scoring in double figures against Hartford, it marked the first time since Nov. 26, 2013 against Rider that Central had five players score in double-figures.

Double-Doubles
• Senior Brandon Peel posted his third double-double of the season with 12 points, 13 rebounds vs. Binghamton.
• In his last 10 games, Peel has six double-doubles. He had eight last season and now has 15 in his career.
• Junior Khalen Cumberlander posted the first of his career with 19 points and 12 rebounds against Hartford.

Early NEC Stat Leaders
• Brandon Peel is grabbing an NEC-high 10.5 rebounds and is second with 1.75 blocked shots per game. He is 5th with a .478 field goal percentage.
• Khalen Cumberlander is 7th in the league in scoring at 16.0 per game, 2nd in assists (5.0), and 5th in steals (1.75).
• Mustafa Jones is 8th with 1.0 blocked shot per game.
• Austin Nehls is 3rd with 2.75 three pointers per game.

Peel Again
• With 13 boards vs. Binghamton senior Brandon Peel has grabbed double-digit rebounds in 25 career games.
• Peel sits atop the rebounding leaderboard for the Northeast Conference with 10.5 per game.
• Peel grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds against Robert Morris on Jan. 10, 2015. He had 11 rebounds at the break.

50 Points Allowed
• Central's defense allowed a season-low 47 points in a 56-47 win over Hartford last season.
• The Blue Devils went 3-0 when holding opponents to 50 or fewer points. This marked the first time since 2010-11 that CCSU had three games of allowing 50 or fewer points.
• Central has won five straight when holding opponents below 50 dating to a 48-46 loss at FDU in 2010-11.

Peel's Blocks - Fifth All-Time
• Senior Brandon Peel recorded five blocks in the opener and has pushed his career total to 138 blocks, fifth all-time at CCSU.
• Joe Efese (150) is next up for Peel on the career list.

Giving Credit to Cratit
• Junior JJ Cratit has scored double-figures in back-to-back games, including a career-high 20 points at Boston College.
• He followed that up with 11 points vs. Binghamton and is averaging 15.5 points over the last two games.
• Cratit has done his scoring, while hitting just 1 three-pointer.

Nehls Knocking Down Treys
• Freshman Austin Nehls hit five three's against Binghamton, the first Blue Devil to do so since Matt Mobley at RMU on 2/14/15.
• Nehls is shooting 44% from the arc and has 11 three-pointers.

Up Next:
• Central will return to action at Brown on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
• The Blue Devils are 4-5 in the all-time series dating to 1998-99.
• CCSU won the first meeting, 81-61, on Nov. 20, 1998.
• The Bears have won the last two meetings, including a 67-55 win at Detrick Gymnasium on Dec. 22, 2014.