By Chris McLaughlin
Despite the late game heroics of Shemik Thompson, the CCSU men’s basketball team saw its seven game win streak snapped, falling to Bryant 85-80 in overtime on the road Saturday.
While the Blue Devils (17-8) were able to defeat Bryant (9-17) last Wednesday at CCU, the rematch didn’t treat them as well.
Bryant controlled much of the game, but after Head Coach Howie Dickenman received a technical foul, the Blue Devils battled back. With a chance to tie in the final seconds, Thompson knocked down a three-pointer and sent the game to overtime. Though CCSU jumped out to a quick lead in OT, Bryant was able to respond and come out on top of this closely contested rematch.
“You saw two different teams than the two that played last time,” said Dickenman. “Last game we took it to them, but this game they took it to us.”
During the last game, Bryant was very successful shooting the three early, but the Blue Devils were able to shut them down. On Saturday, CCSU did not. Bryant was able to connect on seven threes in the first half, missing only five. After being shut out in the previous game, Bryant guard Frankie Dobbs led the Bulldogs with 10 points, including two of the three pointers.
“We were late getting out on shooters and late on our rotations,” said Dickenman. “Last game we were able to shut them down, but we couldn’t in this game. We looked lethargic on defense and we were missing that energy and emotion.”
The Blue Devils struggled on defense in the first half and if Ken Horton didn’t have another MVP type performance, they could have been blown out. Horton finished the half with 15 points, almost half of the team’s total.
Like the last game, Horton was able to score at will down in the thin Bryant front-court. Going 7 of 8 for the half, he kept CCSU afloat, as Bryant shot lights out. Horton finished the game with his tenth double-double of the season, collecting 27 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.
“If you take away the performance from Horton, the rest of the starters were 11-44 for the game. We really can’t ask for much more from him,” said Dickenman.
Though the game was manageable going in to halftime, Bryant began to pull away at the start of the second half. The Bulldogs brought its lead up to 10 and frustration began to set in on the Blue Devils.
When a charge was called a blocking foul against the Blue Devils, Dickenman erupted, and was assessed with a technical. As the crowd was going nuts, the Blue Devil players met in the center of the court to regain composure.
Before Bryant had all day to shoot its threes, now the Blue Devils were there with pressure. Prior to the technical Robbie Ptacek settled for jumpers, now he drove the lane for contested dunks. Before Thompson’s contested threes rimmed out, now they fell right in. It wasn’t long before CCSU brought the lead to one possession.
“I obviously didn’t get T’d up on purpose, but I think the effect was positive,” said Dickenman.
Down three with 18 seconds left, the Blue Devils faced a difficult situation: Foul or play defense. Dickenman went with the latter and the full-court press forced a bad pass causing a turnover. Now with seven seconds left, the Blue Devils went with a play similar to the one used against Fairleigh Dickinson to send that game to overtime. Chris Baskerville threw the ball down court, where it was picked up by Thompson who ran beyond the arc and sank the shot.
CCSU rode that momentum and jumped out to a four-point lead, but then went ice cold. In the final two minutes, the Blue Devils didn’t score once and Bryant capitalized. Led by Dobbs and Cecil Gresham, Bryant closed out the game with a 9-0 run.
“It was a disappointing game, but they deserved to win,” said Dickenman “They made a lot of threes, and it was the type that, when they shot them, you knew it was going in.”
Following this tough loss, the Blue Devils will look to regain momentum in the next two games by coming back to Detrick Gymnasium, where they are 10-1.