Men's Basketball Has Win Streak Stopped at DePaul
The Blue Devils travel to Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon.
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team fell at DePaul, 85-57, on Wednesday night at Wintrust Arena. Junior Joe Hugley led Central with 11 points as the Blue Devils had their five-game win streak stopped.
The loss dropped CCSU to 5-4 overall on the year, while the Blue Demons improved to 4-4.
The Blue Devils travel to Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The game will tip at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN3.
Hugley hit three three-pointers, all in the first half, to pace Central in scoring. Senior Mustafa Jones was the only other player in double-digits with 10 points and he added four assists.
CCSU shot 42.4 percent in the second half, but was held to 37.3 percent (22-of-59) from the field for the game. Central did shoot 5-of-5 from the foul line.
The Blue Demons raced out the start to take a 12-4 lead before the first media timeout. Tre'Darius McCallum scored five straight points and a jumper by Eli Cain closed out a 9-0 run to put DePaul in front.
Junior Joe Hugley would hit back-to-back three-pointers and provided a spark of the bench scoring 11 points in 11 minutes in the first half. CCSU would hold DePaul scoreless over a span of 3:25 and a three-pointer from junior Eric Bowles would get the Blue Devils within, 31-23.
The Blue Demons would close out the half with eight unanswered points to take a 39-23 lead into halftime.
Senior Mustafa Jones would score Central's first six points to open the second half as the Blue Devils would trim the deficit to single digits. Junior Austin Nehls would hit a three-pointer with 12:48 remaining to get CCSU within, 48-41.
DePaul would respond by scoring 10 straight to push the lead back to double-figures and Central would not get closer than 60-46 the rest of the way.
The Blue Demons had five score in double-figures and outrebounded CCSU, 48-37. DePaul took advantage of its size to outscore Central in the paint, 46-16. DePaul shot 47.9 percent (34-of-71) for the game.
Central will travel to Northern Illinois next and tipoff on Saturday, Dec. 9, in a game on ESPN3.