Blue Devils Win Seventh Straight at Home, 65-52, Over St. Francis (PA) on Thursday

Sophomore forward Ken Horton scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Central Connecticut men's basketball team won its seventh straight home game, 65-52, on Thursday night over St. Francis (PA). With the victory the Blue Devils are now 11-11 overall and 7-5 in Northeast Conference play. The Red Flash fall to 5-17 and 2-9 in the league. Sophomore guard Shemik Thompson added 17 points for CCSU in the win. The Blue Devils host conference-leader Robert Morris at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The victory is the 999th in the history of the men's program at CCSU.

The win over the Red Flash completes the season sweep for the Blue Devils and marked the fifth straight home win over St. Francis (PA) by 10 or more points. Central Connecticut is also 4-0 in league play at home this season and 7-1 overall.

Central Connecticut made 20-of-25 from the free-throw line in the victory but just 1-of-15 from three. The one three marks the second time this season that they made just one three point field goal. It extends the streak to 376 consecutive games in which the Blue Devils have made a three.

The Blue Devils led 34-23 at the break, their second-largest halftime lead of the season, but shot only 1-of-8 from three and 13-of-30 from the field before halftime. In the second half they hit on just 9-of-23 from the field but made 13-of-16 from the free-throw line.

St. Francis (PA) would close the gap to 10 on three separate occasions in the final six minutes of the second half but could get no closer. The Blue Devils, the top free-throw shooting team in the league, stretched the gap from the foul line in the final minutes.

The Blue Devils outrebounded the Red Flash 36-28 in the game, including 18 offensive rebounds, and 17 second chance points. They had 40 points in the paint and 16 fast break points in the win.

Horton's 21 led the Blue Devils while Thompson added 17 including 7-of-10 from the free-throw line. Freshman Robby Ptacek, sophomore Tamir Johnson and freshman Chris Baskerville all had six points. Senior Marcus Palmer added seven rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes. Ptacek added four assists and three rebounds.

St. Francis (PA) was led by Devin Sweetney's 20 points and eight rebounds. Kyle Jackson added 12 points in the loss.

The Blue Devils play at home again on Saturday beginning at 4 p.m. hosting league-leader Robert Morris. The Colonials are 10-1 in league play this season. The game will be televised by the NEC and will appear on the Connecticut Sports Network and Cox Sports Television.