The Blue Devils men’s basketball team remains undefeated in conference play after two games. The 82-80 win over the Sacred Heart Pioneers was secured in the final seconds of a five minute overtime situation last Saturday in Detrick Gymnasium.

With 1:10 left to play in regulation CCSU trailed SHU 68- 65, until Robby Ptacek sunk a 3-pointer to tie the score. With the game tied and headed into the final seconds, the Blue Devil defense took charge while the Pioneers missed two vital 3-point shots of their own.

As the buzzer sounded and overtime began, it was the Pioneers who took the lead back with a jump shot from Shane Gibson.

Gibson was an offensive force that the Blue Devils had trouble shooting down in the second half. With just eight points going into intermission, Gibson came back out to the court and exploded with 24 more points, making him the game’s leading scorer.

Gibson opened overtime play and had a total of four points in extra minutes, but it wasn’t enough to hold off CCSU.

The two teams continued to trade shots back and forth, but again CCSU began to trail SHU. Down by three, Ptacek and Kenny Horton were both sent to the line to shoot two free throws. The additional four points gave the Blue Devils the lead and sent the defense back into overdrive.

The game was decided in the final seconds by free throws. CCSU’s biggest break of the overtime came when they led the Pioneers by one with 20 seconds on the clock.

Fouled by Horton, SHU’s Justin Swidowski was sent to the line with his team down one point, but missed both shots as the crowd around him was chanting “air ball.” The Blue Devils remained on top with three more points coming from Horton and Ptacek at the line.

“[The fans] helped us a lot, a whole lot,” said Horton. “It’s only been a couple times that crowd’s really, really been like that and that’s a big boost for us seeing that we have everybody behind us and everybody cheering, everybody doing the little chants. That just gives us that fuel and that fire that helped us pick up our intensity a little bit when we were flat.”

It was the extra attempts taken from the line that really secured the win for the Blue Devils, but it was the free throws that also hindered the team earlier in the game.

“We got a little break when Swidowski came into the game 21 out of 23 from the foul line and he made some earlier and missed them both,” said Head Coach Howie Dickenman. “They had a chance there in regulation and not really a great shot at the end, but it came down to us making foul shots in the overtime, which has kind of been our trademark, but we put stops on them when we needed to.”

At the end of the first half CCSU had gone just 1-1 in free throws while SHU went 8-11. As the game progressed the team fouled more and found themselves at the line more often. In overtime alone CCSU went 7-8 from the line, the only missed shot made by Ptacek in his final attempt.

While SHU had more attempts than CCSU, the Blue Devils were able to take better advantage of the shots they were given, especially in overtime.

Gibson may have been the game’s leading scorer, but again CCSU had three players in double digits.

Horton and Ptacek were virtually even with 30 points, three assists and five turnovers. The two seniors combined for five of the six 3-point shots made, while Horton stepped up defensively with a block, steal and six defensive rebounds.