Freshman Robby Ptacek's Career-High Leads Blue Devils to Win Over Princeton

Freshman guard Robby Ptacek scored a career-high 20 points as the Central Connecticut men's basketball team topped Princeton 67-56 on Saturday afternoon in New Britain. The Blue Devils, now 5-5 on the season, improve to 4-1 at home this season with their fourth straight home win. Sophomore Ken Horton added 18 points as the Blue Devils hit 21-of-26 free-throws to secure the victory. CCSU is off until Monday night, Dec. 29 at Arizona State. Game time is set for 9 p.m. Eastern.

The Blue Devils trailed 17-8 with 11:23 on the clock before they went on a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 18-17, just six minutes later. The run reached 15-4 to end the first half as the Tigers shot poorly from three in the final 11 minutes before the break.

Central Connecticut led 23-21 at the half, holding Princeton to 8-of-25 shooting from the field and 3-of-16 from three-point land. The Blue Devils made just 8-of-18 from the field before the break and had just one three.

The second half saw the Blue Devils hold the Tigers to 4-of-15 shooting from three-point range. Princeton hit only 7-of-31 shots from behind the arc in the game and went to the line only six times. The made just three free-throws in the game.

On the flip side of things it was CCSU's ability to get to the line that helped them win their fourth straight home game. The Blue Devils hit 21-of-26 from the line, including 15-of-16 in the second half, to help secure the win. The Tigers committed 22 fouls in the game against just 10 for the Blue Devils.

In five home games this season the Blue Devils are holding their opponents to just 27 percent shooting from three-point. CCSU hit 4-of-8 attempts from three, all by Ptacek, who finished 4-of-4 in the game.

Central Connecticut turned the ball over just 10 times in the game and just four times in the second half. They shot 13-of-22 from the field in the second period, including 3-of-4 from three. They had 12 assists in the game.

Ptacek, who finished 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-4 from three, led all scorers with his career-high 20. He also grabbed a career-best six rebounds and had a pair of assists in the win. Horton finished with 18 and was 8-of-9 from the line. He played 30 minutes in the game and missed almost nine minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul. He added four blocks in the victory.

Sophomore guard Shemik Thompson had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Blue Devils. He is averaging eight assists through five home games this season. He made 5-of-6 free-throw attempts in the win.

Central Connecticut is off until Monday, Dec. 29 at Arizona State when they play the Sun Devils at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The game can be heard live on the CCSU ESPN Radio Network on both ESPN Radio 1410 in Hartford and ESPN Radio 1300 in New Haven.