Men's Basketball Stumbles in Second Half at Saint Francis U

The Central Connecticut men's basketball lost its Northeast Conference opener by 80-72 at Saint Francis U on Thursday in Loretto, PA. The Blue Devils battled back from a first half deficit to take the lead at halftime, but were unable to hold off the hot-shooting Red Flash in the second half.

Kellen Amos led all scorers with 20 points, while Tre Breland chipped in a career-high 13 points and Jay Rodgers added 10 points. CCSU shot 31-of-66 (.470) from the field overall, abut just 5-of-18 (.278) from three-point range. Central was 5-of-8 (.625) from the foul line.

The Red Flash had five players score in double-figures, led by Landon Moore's 20 points. Luke Ruggery added 15 points on 5-of-5 from three-point range. SFU was 25-of-48 (.521) from the field and 14-of-21 (.667) from three-point range. The Red Flash went 16-of-25 (.640) from the foul stripe.

The Blue Devils play host to St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: CCSU 72, SAINT FRANCIS U 80
Records: CCSU (2-13, 0-1 NEC), SFU (4-10, 1-0 NEC)
Location: DeGol Arena | Loretto, PA

KEY MOMENTS

• Saint Francis U raced out the gates scoring the first 14 points of the game. CCSU would rebound to score seven unanswered points, but the Red Flash would build their largest lead of the night at 26-9 following a trifecta by Ruggery at the 9:09 mark.
• Central would outscore the Red Flash, 23-5, over a nearly seven-minute span to take its first lead of the game. A Breland dunk at the 5:54 mark would open a run of 13 unanswered points, capped off by an Amos layup to make it 32-31 with 2:23 left in the half. The Blue Devils would go into halftime with a 38-36 lead following a driving layup by Davonte Sweatman just before the intermission.
• Central would convert 10-of-11 field goals at one point and took its largest lead of the night at 42-36 following back-to-back buckets by Amos to open the second half. The Blue Devils would hold a 49-45 lead with 16:34 remaining after a three-point play by Jayden Brown.
• The Red Flash would cap a 9-2 spurt with a Josh Cohen layup to take a 54-51 lead that they would not relinquish. The Blue Devils would manage to trim the deficit to one point on two occasions, but they were held scoreless for nearly four minutes and were limited to 1-of-9 shooting from the field down the stretch.

QUOTABLE

"Tonight, after we we settled down on the defensive end and fought our way back into the game," said head coach Patrick Sellers. "We didn't sustain that for the full 40 minutes and it came back to hurt us. In order for us to be successful in this league, our defense and rebounding will have to be better, night in and night out."

NUMBER TO KNOW

18 – Central Connecticut limited SFU to 18 points in the paint and outscored the Red Flash by a 44-18 margin on points in the paint.

NOTES

• SFU leads the all-time series, 27-23, and has won the last three meetings. The Red Flash are 3-0 against the Blue Devils in NEC openers at DeGol Arena.
• The Blue Devils are now 12-14 all-time in NEC openers.
• Amos posted his fourth 20-point game of the season and has scored 10+ points in 12 contests.
• Breland was 6-of-9 from the field and over the past four games he is shooting 64.7% (11-of-17) from the floor.
• Rodgers scored in double-figures for the sixth straight game.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils play host to St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday.