Men's Basketball Drops High-Scoring Home Opener to St. Francis Brooklyn

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team fell in a shootout against St. Francis Brooklyn, 91-86, on Tuesday at Detrick Gymnasium. The Blue Devils would erase a double-digit first half lead and built a seven-point lead in the second half, but the Terriers would rallly to outscore the home side. Central was playing its first home game of the 2020-21 season.

Central falls to 1-5 on the season, while St. Francis is 2-1.

Junior Tre Mitchell paced the Blue Devils with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting, 4-of-8 from three-point range. Sophomore Greg Outlaw added 16 points, while junior Karrington Wallace and Nigel Scantlebury had 10 apiece. Scantlebury added a career-high seven asists. Mitchell and senior Stephane Ayangma had five rebounds each to lead CCSU.

CCSU 33-of-66 (.500) and was 12-of-21 (.571) from three-point range. The Blue Devils went 8-of-13 (.615) from the foul line, all in the second half.

Travis Atson led five Terriers in double-figures with 21 points, to go with eight rebounds. Hawkins and Higgins each added 18 points, while Unique McLean had 12 points off the bench and Vuk Stevanic finished with 10 points. SFBK shot 34-of-69 (.493) from the field and and was 9-of-25 (.360) from three-point range. The Terriers went 14-of-24 (.583) from the foul line.

Central and St. Francis will play again on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: St. Francis Brooklyn 91, CCSU 86
Records: CCSU (1-5, 1-2 NEC), SFBK (2-1, 2-1 NEC)
Location: Detrick Gymnasium | New Britain, CT

KEY MOMENTS

• The Terriers opened the game scoring the first 10 points and built a 14-2 lead following a three-pointer by Rob Higgins with 16:07 to go in the opening period.
• Central would claw back to within a point with 10:34 left in the half. CCSU outscored SFBK, 20-9, over a six-minute span and a three-pointer by sophomore Jamir Reed made it 23-22.
• A three-pointer by Reed at the 8:33 mark gave CCSU a 29-28 lead, but the Blue Devils would go scoreless over a four-minute span and the Terriers push their lead back to 39-29. Central managed to cut the deficit to 44-41 just before halftime on a jumper by sophomore Greg Outlaw.
• The contest was tied at 58-all with 14:01 to play. CCSU would outscore SFBK, 10-3, in just over two minutes and took their largest lead of the game following a layup by senior Stephane Ayangma to make it 68-61 with 11:40 to play.
• St. Francis would hold Central without a field goal for almost five minutes and tied the game at 69-69 with 7:48 to play. CCSU would manage to push its lead back to 78-74, but after a Chauncey Hawkins three-point play put the Terriers ahead 80-78 with 2:32 left the Blue Devils trailed the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE

"Offensively we're fine and we can score," said head coach Donyell Marshall. "Defensively we have to take pride in that and right now we're a team that as long as we're playing well offensively, we play hard defensively. We have to realize that defense is something we can bring every night and we have to get better at that."

NUMBER TO KNOW

12 - Central converted 12 three-pointers in the game and shot 57.1 percent from the arc in the game.

NOTES

• St. Francis leads the all-time series, 30-25, and has won the last three meetings.
• Mitchell has scored double-figures in four straight games. He is shooting .520 from the field on the year.
• Scantlebury has at least six assists in every conference game this season.
• Central had 19 assists as a team, its second-highest total of the year. (21 at FDU, 12/8/20).
• The Blue Devils' bench outscored the Terriers', 39-20.