by Humera Gul
The Central Connecticut State University Mens Basketball team fell to the Sacred Heart Pioneers in a 77-62 loss on Saturday. CCSU struggled to keep a five point lead early on in the game.
There were moments of promise, especially when Mustafa Jones put up six of the eight points CCSU scored. Mustafa Jones shot seven out of 12 from the field. He also had six rebounds, two steals and six blocks. Mustafa Jones is a junior, and has shown much poise and promise in many games this season.
Sacred Heart built a double digit lead in the first half, ass CCSU struggled to score from then on. CCSU’s offense did alright, but had difficulty shooting from the arc. Perhaps we need to work on our three pointers and improve our defense a little. Either shoot better from the arc, or take more shots from the field.
The Blue Devils didn’t get blown out, but they were never able to take the lead again. Hey, The Patriots never had the lead during 60 minutes of the Super Bowl but they won.
Sophomore Austin Nehls was 4-10 from the field. However, he did get two three point shots and was 2 of 2 for foul shots. He had five rebounds, three assists and two steals. On the other side, Sean Hoehn had a tremendous game. He was 5 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 from the arc. He was unstoppable on his three point shots. He also had four rebounds, two assists and two steals. He led in points scored, topping out at 27. Another Pioneer that played well was Quincy McKnight. McKnight was 4 of 7 from the field, 2 of 3 from the arc and 1 of 2 for foul shots. He also recorded one rebound, three assists and two steals.
The game was over when the Pioneers led the game by double digits, as high as 74-57 with only one minute 40 seconds to play. Jones tried hard to make a comeback, as he hit a layup with only 23 seconds to play. He led CCSU with 14 points total. CCSU has a long way to go before we can become competitive in basketball. We will improve in due time as our team is still young.
CCSU shot 22 of 51 from the field, only three out of 12 for three pointers and 15 out of 18 at the foul line. The Blue Devils were 30 out of 32 on rebounds. Sacred Heart shot 24 of 51 from the field, 13 of 23 for three pointers and 16 out of 19 at the foul line.
With another loss, CCSU is 5-20 overall and 3-11 in the Northeast Conference. Sacred Heart has won 4 games in a row and improves to 12-15 overall and 7-7 in the NEC.
CCSU plays again on February 16th against Saint Francis University at home. The game is at 7 p.m. Let’s Go Blue Devils!