Last Second Shot Beats Men's Basketball in Home Opener on Monday Night

Sophomore forward Ken Horton posted his fourth career double-double but the Central Connecticut men's basketball team dropped its home opener on Monday night, 58-57 to Colgate. Mike Venezia hit a jumper from just above the free-throw as time expired to give the Raiders the victory. With the loss the Blue Devils fall to 0-2 this season. They play again on Saturday at Albany at 7 p.m.

The Blue Devils trailed 33-28 at the half but used solid defense against the Raiders to take a 36-33 lead just three minutes into the second half. Four straight points by Colgate gave them the 37-36 lead but the Blue Devils responded with a 10-2 run over the next 7:30 to take a 46-39 lead with 9:03 on the clock. The Blue Devil defense held the Raiders to just six points in the first 11 minutes of the half.

With 1:02 on the clock a jumper from sophomore Aaron Hall gave the Blue Devils a 57-53 lead. Following a timeout by Colgate the Raiders used a jumper from Venezia, one free-throw by Ben Jonson and then the final jumper by Venezia to overcome the four-point deficit and win by one in their first game of the 2008-09 season.

The Blue Devils outrebounded the Raiders 40-33 including 11 from senior Marcus Palmer and 10 from Horton. It marked the first time that two Blue Devils had 10 or more rebounds in a game since a win over Fairleigh Dickinson on February 21 of last season.

Central Connecticut struggled from the free-throw line in the game hitting just 12-of-22 attempts. Freshman Robby Ptacek was 6-for-6 from the line in the loss. Colgate went to the line just five times and made four of their attempts. The Blue Devils, who had just six assists on Friday night, had 13 assists in the game against just 11 turnovers. Sophomore Shemik Thompson had seven and added 12 points.

Horton's double-double was his first this season. He had a game-high 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting including a pair of threes. Hall added eight points and six boards while Palmer had seven points, 11 boards and three assists.

The Blue Devils return to action on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Albany. Fans can listen to the game live on ESPN Radio1410, ESPN Radio 1300 and CCSUBlueDevils.com.