In a game of two halves, the Central Connecticut State University men’s basketball team lost to Manhattan College 67-63 on Sunday, Nov. 19, in Detrick Gymnasium.

It was Central’s third loss in their last four games, and in this one, the Blue Devils let a 13-point lead slip away in the second half despite forward Allan Jeanne-Rose’s 25-point performance.

Both teams came into the game off of a win. On Nov. 13, Central blew out Framingham State University by 57 points, the second-largest margin of victory in program history. Manhattan defeated Felician University 79-67 on Thursday, Nov. 16.

The Blue Devils began the game by jumping out to an early lead, thanks to their defensive pressure, which held Manhattan to shooting 1-for-7. An 8-2 run by the Jaspers brought them within one point. But the Blue Devils maintained their lead for the rest of the half, Central ended on top 35-26.

The Blue Devils’ willingness to attack Manhattan at the basket defined their first-half performance, with 18 of Central’s 35 points coming from inside the paint.

The second half began looking like a repeat of the first, as the Blue Devils extended their lead to 13 points in the first few minutes, but Manhattan slowly started climbing back.

The Jaspers went from two free-throw attempts in the first half to 19 in the second. The Blue Devils went from nine attempts to only one.

Manhattan had the edge in bench points in the second half. Central’s bench scored seven points during the first half, and Manhattan’s scored five. By the end of the game, Manhattan’s bench had scored 22 points while Central’s only scored 13.

CCSU also had 15 turnovers during the contest, the most in a single game this season, which head coach Patrick Sellers attributed to the loss.

“We had 15 careless turnovers. I have to go back and look, but we don’t really turn the ball over,” Sellers said. “All year, we were one of the few teams that didn’t really turn the ball over. Today, we had careless stepping out of bounds and careless turnovers.”

The Jaspers took their first lead of the game with five minutes left in the second half. From there, the lead changed five times, but a Manhattan three-pointer with 1:43 left on the clock sealed the Blue Devils’ fate.

Despite the loss, it was another standout performance from Jeanne-Rose, who had 25 points, four rebounds, one block, and one steal on 11-for-15 shooting. With his second 20-point performance of the season he is leading the team in scoring, averaging 19 points per game.

Jeanne-Rose, who transferred to Central from Fairfield University, spoke about how he has been adapting to his new team.

“I’ve been settling in pretty well,” Jeanne-Rose said. “I have great teammates, great coaching, and I’m just happy they’re trusting in me, and I’m trusting in them.”

He said that the result wasn’t going to affect his mentality and the team will start to improve going forward.

“I’m just out here giving my best every night and trying to help the team win as much as possible,” Jeanne-Rose said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen tonight, but I’m always staying positive because I know we have a good team, and I know we have more to show.”

The Blue Devils are now 1-3 on the season and will look for a win at the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday, Nov. 22.