Junior De'Angelo Speech scored a career-high 23 points, including six threes, as the Central Connecticut men's basketball team beat Sacred Heart 74-69 on Saturday afternoon in New Britain. Speech, whose previous career-high was nine points, was 7-of-11 from the field and 6-of-8 from three as the Blue Devils won for the third time in four games.
The victory pushes the Blue Devils to 8-16 overall and 4-7 in Northeast Conference play. Sacred Heart falls to 4-22 overall and 1-10 in the league.
Central trailed by 13 in the first half and by as many as 11 after halftime, before posting their third double-figure comeback in the last four games. Central's bench outscored Sacred Heart's 58-0 in the game, including 23 from Speech, 15 from junior Kyle Vinales and 13 from senior Terrell Allen.
Down 42-31 with 12:47 to play, the Blue Devils rattled off a 16-0 run to take a 57-52 lead with 7:24 left in the game. Sacred Heart went 6:39 without scoring a point before ending the CCSU run with a jumper from Steve Glowiak. Glowiak ended the game with 27 points, including seven threes.
Sophomore Brandon Peel added eight points and five rebounds and junior Juwan Newmen had seven points and six rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench for Central. Central's bench was 17-for-31 from the field and 9-of-17 from three in the game. Vinales added three threes and a pair of steals.
Junior Malcolm McMillan had seven rebounds, as did junior Faronte Drakeford. Freshman Matt Mobley had six assists, as the Blue Devils had 15 assists on 24 baskets in the game.
Allen's 13 points included 5-for-5 from the line, 4-of-4 in the second half. Central had six blocks, including three from Peel who leads the NEC in blocks per game in league play this season.
The win is the third in the last four games for the Blue Devils. They were 17-of-22 from the line in the victory, and shot 5-of-10 from three in the second half.
The Blue Devils are back in action on Tuesday night, playing on the road at St. Francis Brooklyn beginning at 7 p.m. It is the first of three games next week, two coming on the road. The Blue Devils will play their final home game of the season on Thursday night vs. Mount St. Mary's.
