The Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils men’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker to the Le Moyne College Dolphins, 75-73, inside Detrick Gymnasium on Friday.
The loss ended Central’s five-game winning streak and dropped them to 3-1 in Northeast Conference play and 9-8 overall.
Early struggles from beyond the three-point line plagued the Blue Devils early in the contest. They finished the first half shooting 2-for-13 from three-point range, good for just over 15 percent.
On the opposite side, Le Moyne’s three-point shooting kept them in the contest, shooting 7-for-14 from beyond the arc, allowing them to lead by one at halftime.
The Dolphins got out to as much as a 10-point lead six minutes into the second half before the Blue Devils stormed back to take a three-point lead with just over five and a half minutes to play.
The two sides traded the lead back and forth until the closing seconds when Le Moyne scored a layup with 1.6 seconds left to give the Dolphins a two-point lead.
A last-second heave from the Blue Devils fell short, and Le Moyne pulled off the upset with a slim two-point win on the road.
Senior guard Jordan Jones led the Blue Devils in scoring with 22 points. He also contributed three of Central’s seven made three-pointers.
Jones has undoubtedly found more confidence in his three-point shot.
“Coach has been letting me know in practice that they would be pulling me out of the game before I pass up open shots,” he said. “We are all good shooters, so if they give us open looks, they want us to take them.”
Senior guard Tre Breland, who has shown off his ability to be a two-way player in recent games, contributed 16 points.
Breland tries to model his game after Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.
“He does all the little things,” Breland said. “I’m not as tall as him, but if I can mimic his game and play the game right, it will come with a better result to the game.”
Despite the heartbreaking loss, head coach Patrick Sellers stresses the importance of moving forward.
“The beauty of college basketball is that we have practice tomorrow and a game on Sunday,” he said. “We have an opportunity to get this bad taste out of our mouth and get back on the winning track.”
The Blue Devils will look to do just that when they travel to Long Island to take on the Sharks of Long Island University on Sunday. They will return to Detrick Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 27, for the Coaches vs. Cancer game against Wagner.
