Men's Basketball Falls 67-53 at The Citadel on Sunday Night
Sophomore Robby Ptacek scored a career-high 24 points but the Central Connecticut State University men's basketball dropped a 67-53 decision on the road at The Citadel on Sunday night. With the loss the Blue Devils fall to 1-3 on the season. Ptacek hit 8-of-16 shots from the floor and 4-of-7 from three in the loss. The Blue Devils return to action on Thursday night at St. Francis (NY) as they open Northeast Conference play at 7 p.m. against the Terriers.
Sophomore Robby Ptacek scored a
career-high 24 points but the Central Connecticut State University
men's basketball dropped a 67-53 decision on the road at The
Citadel on Sunday night. With the loss the Blue Devils fall to 1-3
on the season. Ptacek hit 8-of-16 shots from the floor and 4-of-7
from three in the loss. The Blue Devils return to action on
Thursday night at St. Francis (NY) as they open Northeast
Conference play at 7 p.m. against the Terriers.
The Blue Devils, playing undermanned on Sunday night due to an
injury to junior guard Shemik Thompson, had their
most productive first half of the season and led 35-33. Central
shot 12-of-24 from the field and hit four threes before the break
to take the advantage.
In the second half the Citadel held the Blue Devils to only 7-of-19
shooting in the second half and just six points in the final 11:50
to come away with their fifth victory of the season.
Central led by two at the half, 35-33, but struggled offensively to
start the second half and committed two turnovers on their first
two possessions. They had only two turnovers in the first half
helping them take the two point lead.
The Bulldogs took a 46-41 lead with 13:29 to play in the second
half but Central climbed back to cut the lead to 53-51 with 8:35 to
play. Senior guard Joe Seymore had a pair of
buckets during the quick spurt for Central and freshman Joe Efese had a
basket underneath on an assist from sophomore Vince
Rosario.
The bucket by Efese would be the last for the Blue Devils during a
six minute span in which the Bulldogs used a 14-2 run to finish the
scoring. Central got just a pair of free-throws from Ptacek in the
final 8:35 of the half and did not score a field goal during that
time.
Ptacek led the way with his 24 points. Seymore and junior Ross
Pentland added seven points and Efese and junior David
Simmons each had four. Seymore grabbed four rebounds to lead
the team while Simmons and Ptacek each had four.
The Blue Devils return to action on Thursday night and will play
their first conference game of the season. Central will travel to
St. Francis (NY) to begin league action beginning at 7 p.m. They
will then travel to Long Island on Saturday for a game beginning at
4:30 p.m.
