Men's Basketball Season Ends at Saint Francis U in NEC Quarterfinals

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team had its season come to a close with an 83-69 loss at Saint Francis U in the Northeast Conference Tournament on Wednesday in Loretto, PA. The sixth-seeded Blue Devils led for much of the first half before the third-seeded Red Flash closed the period with a 10-2 spurt to take the lead for good.

The Blue Devils had four players in double-figures, with Andre Snoddy posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. CCSU shot 28-of-65 (.431) from the field overall and 5-of-20 (.250) from three-point range. Central was 8-of-14 (.571) from the foul line.

Josh Cohen, the NEC Player of the Year, had a game-high 23 points with 12 rebounds to lead the Red Flash. SFU shot 31-of-67 (.463) overall and 9-of-21 (.429) from the arc. The Red Flash was 12-of-16 (.750) from the foul line.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: CCSU 69, Saint Francis U 83
Records: #6 CCSU (10-22, 7-9 NEC), #3 SFU (13-17, 9-7 NEC
Location: DeGol Arena | Loretto, PA

KEY MOMENTS

• Kellen Amos opened the game's scoring with an alley-oop on CCSU's opening possession. He would score the first four points of the night and the Blue Devils would lead for nearly 10 minutes in the opening period, but not by more than the 4-0 start.
• CCSU held a 26-24 lead following a three-pointer by Brody Limric with 5:08 to go in the half, but that was its last lead of the night. A three-pointer on the next possession opened a 15-4 run for the Red Flash to close the period. SFU took a 39-30 lead into the break after CCSU had a shot at the buzzer waved off.
• Nigel Scantlebury hit 1-of-2 foul shots with 17:21 to play to get the Blue Devils within 43-37, but the Red Flash would get four straight points from Cohen to push the lead to double-digits. Back-to-back layups gave SFU a 51-37 lead with 14:26 to play.
• Saint Francis pushed the lead to as much as 68-58 with 9:37 remaining and managed to keep the lead despite a late Blue Devils charge. Snoddy would score six straight points and a dunk by Jayden Brown with 2:01 to play would cut the deficit to 78-67, but Central would get no closer.

NUMBER TO KNOW

9 – Snoddy posted his ninth double-double of the season on Wednesday.

QUOTABLE

"Me and him have had so many conversations after losses, after wins, in the gym talking about life, talking about everything, talking about basketball, talking about non-basketball," said Andre Snoddy when asked about what Nigel Scantlebury has meant to the team. "That's really my big brother, I love him to death. For what he's feeling in the locker room right now really hurts me a lot, because we couldn't get the job done for him. I know whatever Nigel ends up doing in the future, I know he has a bright future ahead."

NOTES

• SFU leads the all-time series, 28-24, and took two of three meeting this season with each team winning on its home court. They were meeting in the NEC Tournament for the first time.
• Snoddy shot 6-of-7 from the field and played all but 18 seconds in the game. He grabbed 10 or more rebounds against NEC opponents on 10 occasions.
• Kellen Amos and Jayden Brown each scored a team-high 13 points. Amos added five rebounds and a blocked shot, while Brown added six rebounds and two blocks off the bench.
• Scantlebury scored 12 points and added five assists in the final contest of his CCSU career. He finished with 890 career points and 293 assists, which ties for the 9^th-most in program history.
• Central finished the season with 219 three-pointers on the season, which is the 4^th-most in program annals. CCSU also finished with 122 blocked shots, the 7^th-most.