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 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.