Four in Double-Figures for Men's Basketball in 79-58 Win Over Penn State Wilkes-Barre

The Central Connecticut men's basketball team cruised to a 79-58 win over Penn State Wilkes-Barre on Saturday afternoon at Detrick Gymnasium. CCSU had four players score in double-figures, led by senior Tyler Kohl, who posted his 6th 20-point game of the season, and junior Joe Hugley added 14 pints and a game-high nine rebounds coming off the bench. The win improved the Blue Devils to 5-5 overall on the season.

Central plays its next three games on the road and returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 16, when it travels to Providence for a nationally-televised game on FS1.

Kohl finished with 21 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Hugley came off the bench to add three blocked shots in 17 minutes. He was 9-of-10 at the foul line. Freshman Ian Krishnan hit three three-pointers and finished with 15 points, while senior Deion Bute scored 12 points with three blocked shots. Junior Tyson Batisted had four assists, no turnovers, and seven rebounds.

Penn State started of hitting its first three three-pointers of the game and held an early 12-9 lead after a layup by Jordan Williams with 15:31 left in the period. 

Senior Tyler Kohl would rattle off eight straight points for the Blue Devils, including back-to-back three-pointers, to put CCSU ahead 15-12. Central would make it an 8-0 run after a layup by junior Jamir Coleman to push the lead to 17-12 at the 14:04 mark. 

The Lions would continue their hot start from the three-point arc as they converted 6-of-7 to open the game. Jayden Hampton's trey at the 11:48 mark put PSU ahead 23-21.

CCSU would respond with a 11-2 run, while holding Penn State to 1-of-7 shooting. A jumper by Kohl would stretch the Blue Devils lead to 32-25 with 5:45 left in the opening period.

Central would build its largest lead of the period with a 10-0 run late in the period. Junior Joe Hugley would have five points, all at the foul line, in the spurt and freshman Ian Krishnan closed the run with a trifecta to make it 45-31. 

Penn State would score the final four points of the period to cut the Central lead to 45-35 at the intermission.

Central shot 13-of-31 (.419) from the field in the opening half, including 3-of-10 (.300) from the arc. The Blue Devils were 16-of-20 (.800) from the foul line in the period.

Krishnan opened the second half with back-to-back three-pointers and Coleman hit a layup as Central pushed its lead to 53-39 and forced a Penn State timeout. After making their first shot of the period, the Lions were held scoreless for nearly five minutes as they went just 1-for-9 from the field to begin the period.

The Blue Devils defense would limit Penn State to a stretch of 1-for-17 shooting from the field midway through the second half. CCSU would extend its lead to 74-50 following a three-pointer by Hugley with 6:43 remaining. Penn State would get no closer than 77-58, while freshman Will Ellis would close out the scoring with 0:24 to play.

Central would finish the game shooting 25-of-66 (.357) overall and 7-of-22 (.317) from three-point range. The Blue Devils converted 22-of-29 (.759) at the foul line and outrebounded the Lions, 43-31, while committing just six turnovers.

Kahlil White led Penn State with 14 points. The Lions shot just 5-of-25 after halftime and finished the day shooting 17-of-52 (.327). PSU was 8-of-19 (.421) from the arc, but just 1-of-8 in the second half, and was 16-of-21 (.762) at the foul line.