Central Connecticut Men's Basketball Falls at #14/17 Arizona State on Monday Night

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team dropped an 84-47 decision on the road at #14/17 Arizona State on Monday night. The Sun Devils improve to 11-1 on the season a perfect 6-0 at home. The Blue Devils fall to 5-6 overall on the season with the loss. Sophomore forward Ken Horton led the Blue Devils with 12 points in the game on 4-of-12 shooting from the field. Central Connecticut returns to Northeast Conference action on Saturday at Long Island beginning at 2 p.m. The Blue Devils are 1-0 in league play this season having beaten Mount St. Mary's earlier this season.

The Sun Devils hit their first four shots from the field and took an 8-5 lead at the first media timeout. After a Shemik Thompson runner in the lane cut the lead to 8-7, Arizona State ran off nine straight points to take a 17-7 lead with 11:28 on the clock.

The first basket of the game for sophomore Ken Horton cut it to 17-9 but it was all Arizona State for the remainder of the half as they outscored CCSU 27-11 in the final nine minutes. A 10-0 run made it 32-11 as the Sun Devils continued to shoot well from the floor.

The Sun Devils hit an amazing 19-of-24 shots from the field in the first half and led 49-22 at the break. ASU was a perfect 14-of-14 from inside the three point line before the break and limited the Blue Devils to just three rebounds in the half. The Blue Devils were 9-of-24 from the field and 2-of-5 from three.

Arizona State opened the second half with a 22-5 run to take a 71-27 lead with 12:56 to play in the game. A pair of Thompson free-throws and three points by freshman Chris Baskerville made it 71-32. Baskerville grabbed an offensive rebound and his lay-up marked just his second basket for the Blue Devils this season.
Following an ASU free-throw a Horton three, his first of the game, made the Blue Devil run 8-3 over the three minute span.

Horton finished the game with 12 points for the Blue Devils including hitting his final three threes in the second half. It marked his 32nd career game in double-figures.

ASU's James Harden, a Naismith Award finalist this season as a sophomore, finished the game with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field, including three threes. Freshman Robby Ptacek finished the game with seven points while Thompson added eight in the loss.

The Blue Devils fall to 0-8 against ranked teams in the 13 seasons under head coach Howie Dickenman. The last time CCSU faced a ranked team was the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2007 when they faced #1 Ohio State.

The Blue Devils are in action again on Saturday as they return to Northeast Conference action at Long Island beginning at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the CCSU ESPN Radio Network on ESPN Radio 1410 in Hartford and ESPN Radio 1300 in New Haven. Fans can also listen live on CCSUBlueDevils.com.

They also play on the road on Monday night at Monmouth, the game time has been moved to 7 p.m.