Men's Basketball Posts 1,000th All-Time Victory With Non-Conference Win at Bryant on Saturday
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team posted its 1,000th all-time victory with a 65-61 non-conference win at Bryant University on Saturday afternoon. The win improves the all-time record for the CCSU men's team to 1,000-754 since the inception of the program in 1934-35. With the victory the Blue Devils are now 12-13 overall this season, it was the final non-conference game of the year for CCSU. Sophomore forward Ken Horton led the way with 23 points, the 15th 20-point game of his career. CCSU returns home on Thursday night hosting Sacred Heart at 7 p.m.
The Central Connecticut men's basketball team posted its 1,000th
all-time victory with a 65-61 non-conference win at Bryant
University on Saturday afternoon. The win improves the all-time
record for the CCSU men's team to 1,000-754 since the inception of
the program in 1934-35. With the victory the Blue Devils are now
12-13 overall this season, it was the final non-conference game of
the year for CCSU. Sophomore forward Ken Horton led the way with
23 points, the 15th 20-point game of his career. CCSU returns home
on Thursday night hosting Sacred Heart at 7 p.m.
The Blue Devils hit five of their first six shots to take a 12-8
lead five minutes into the first half. Horton had five of the
first 12 for the visitors.
With the game tied 14-14 the Blue Devils scored nine straight
points to up their lead to 23-14 with 7:15 to play before the
break. A conventional three point play by sophomore David Simmons stretched the lead to seven.
The three points for Simmons gave him five on the day. A driving
lay up by senior Marcus Palmer made it nine.
Bryant answered with nine straight points to tie the game at 23-23
with 5:07 on the clock. Horton answered with his second three of
the game to make it 26-23 and Bryant answered with a basket
underneath to cut it to one.
Central Connecticut led 30-25 but the Bulldogs scored eight
straight points to take their first lead of the game, 33-30, with
under a minute to play. A Horton three, his third of the half,
tied the game at 33-3 heading into the break. The Blue Devils hit
14-of-25 from the field including 3-of-7 from three. They
outrebounded the Bulldogs 15-13. Horton had a game-high 15 on
6-of-8 shooting from the floor.
Palmer scored seven quick points for the Blue Devils to open the
second half but a pair of threes from Bryant cut it to 40-39.
Palmer, who had three points in the first half, scored the first
seven of the second for Central Connecticut.
The Bulldogs took the lead, 44-42, on a 5-0 run capped by a pair of
free-throws with 13:04 left. The run reached 7-0 before a basket
by sophomore guard Shemik Thompson made it 46-44. Down by
three, freshman Kyle Desmarais hit a three from the corner,
followed by a driving lay up by junior Joe Seymore, as the Blue Devils re-took the
lead, 49-47. Horton hit a pair of free-throws to make it 51-47
with 7:52 to play.
Horton led all scorers with 23, he also grabbed eight rebounds.
Palmer added 10 and grabbed seven rebounds while Thompson added
eight points and six assists. They shot 54.3 percent (25-of-46)
from the field and hit 6-of-14 from three.
Seymore hit his first three of the game giving the Blue Devils a
six point edge. The Blue Devils led 56-50 as their run reached
12-3 over a four minute span.
The Blue Devils led 60-59 with under a minute to play and a
turnover by the Bulldogs gave CCSU the ball with 57.9 seconds on
the clock. Freshman Robby Ptacek was fouled with 33.6 seconds
on the clock and drained both free-throws to make it 62-59.
Horton made a pair at the line to make it 64-59 but the Bulldogs
scored with 9.7 seconds on the clock to make it 64-61.
The Blue Devils will be in action again on Thursday night hosting
Sacred Heart beginning at 7 p.m. The game will be televised live
on Cox Sports Television and the Connecticut Sports Network.
