By Brittany Burke
The CCSU men’s basketball team hasn’t been able to capture a win on the road to open the season, but at home in Detrick Gymnasium, the Blue Devils managed to outscore the Army Black Knights 67-51 for their first victory.
The Blue Devils were lead by senior Robby Ptacek, who had a 31-point game. Ptacek was the game’s leading point producer, followed by Army’s Ella Ellis, who trailed the 6-foot-3 guard by 10.
Kenny Horton had another productive game offensively, with 19 points of his own. While he produced on the board, Horton only managed to go one-for-four from the line. The Blue Devils only shot 40-percent from the line when fouled, while the Black Knights were higher at 67-percent.
While Horton and Ptacek contributed to a bulk of the points, freshman standout Kyle Vinales stepped back and focused his game on helping out his teammates. On the road Vinales has had two 30-point plus games, but at home he only hit a three-pointer less than a minute into the first half. After his initial three, he only managed to get one free-throw for a four-point game.
However, while he wasn’t the games’ main point producer, Vinales tied the team high in assists with fellow freshman Malcolm McMillan.
Turnovers were in abundance for both the Black Knights and Blue Devils. While CCSU committed 13 in the first half, the team still headed into halftime with the four point lead, 34-30.
The teams tied 27-all off of a Horton foul, but Terrell Allen countered the Black Knights 50 seconds later with a steal and dunk from the paint. The 27 tie was in position to take the top spot.
With less than three minutes off the clock in the second half Horton rebounded off a missed jump shot from Vinales. The dunk from the paint began a 13-0 streak for the Blue Devils to lengthen their lead 49-35.
The streak saw contributions from Horton, Joe Efese, McMillan and Ptacek with the final three-pointer. The streak was eventually broken with a layup from Ellis, but only after more than five minutes had passed.
The game was sealed with a shot from McMillan to put the Blue Devils up by 16 with 1:25 left in the second. McMillan’s final steal with 25 seconds left ensured the CCSU win, leaving the Black Knights with no hope for a comeback.
This was the first of three home games for the Blue Devils. On Tuesday CCSU will face UMBC at 7 p.m. and will then take on in-state rivals, the University of Hartford Sat. Nov. 26 at 2 p.m. The game against UHart marks the final game before Northeast Conference play begins.
