Men's Basketball Held off at LIU in NEC Opener
The Central Connecticut State men's basketball opened NEC play on the road Friday night, falling 84-78 in a tightly contested contest at LIU.
Jay Rodgers had a double-double for the Blue Devils as he handed out a career-high 14 assists to go along with 14 points. Darin Smith, Jr. scored 23 points and Max Frazier scored 22 for the Blue Devils. Central shot 54.7 percent from the field on Friday evening, hitting 29-of-53 from the field on the night.
LIU was led by Malachi Davis, who scored 23 points, and Jamal Fuller, who tallied 20 points. Mason Porter-Brown finished with a double-double, netting 18 points and collecting 12 rebounds. The Sharks had a 19-9 advantage in offensive rebounds and an 18-0 edge in second-chance points.
GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE
Score: CCSU 78, LIU 84
Records: CCSU (6-6, 0-1 NEC), LIU (7-7, 1-0 NEC)
Location: Steinberg Wellness Center| Brooklyn, NY
KEY MOMENTS
- The squads played evenly through the opening 4:24 as Jamal Fuller's three-ball, the Sharks' second of the opening minutes, brought LIU even at 10-10. Rodgers threw an alley-oop that Frazier converted on the next possession, and after a defensive stop, Smith, Jr. laid home a Rodgers pass for a 14-10 Blue Devils advantage. Smith made the lead six with a jumper at the 13:16 mark of the opening half.
- LIU answered with an 8-2 run, six of the points coming from James Fuller to knot the score, 18-18, midway in the half. Rodgers and Fuller exchanged baskets in the next 90 seconds to keep the score even, 20-20.
- James Jones and Smith, Jr. scored the next five points of the game, with Smith, Jr.'s triple putting the Blue Devils on top, 25-20, and forcing an LIU timeout with 7:50 remaining in the period. Out of that break, LIU converted 4-of-6 from the field over 3:25 of action, to score 10 unanswered points and build a 30-25 advantage with 4:25 to play in the period.
- Central scored nine of the final 16 points of the half, with four from Frazier, and closed within 35-34 when Ashton Reynolds scored on Rodger' eighth assist of the half and 1:56 to play in the period. A Greg Gordon dunk with 14 seconds to play in the opening period gave the Sharks a 37-34 halftime advantage.
- Smith, Jr. made a pair of free throws to open the second-half to draw the Blue Devils within a point, but LIU didn't relinquish the lead and were never able to expand its advantage to more than five points – a mark they reached three times through the midway point of the half, leading 57-52 with 10:47 to play
- Following a Frazier free throw, Gordon hit a jumper to push the advantage to 59-53 and maintained that margin two possessions later after Rodgers and Malachi Davis exchanged three pointers to make it 62-56. The Blue Devils pushed a 5-2 run over the ensuing minute of play, capped by a Roddy Jones triple to make it 64-61, but again Davis answered to return the Sharks' lead to six points. Central scored 10 of the next 15 points to close within a point when Frazier laid home a Rodgers pass, his 13th assist of the game, with 3:59 to play, and the score 72-71.
- Caleb Johnson scored four points over the ensuing 2:59 as LIU scored nine of the next 10 points, while CCSU was 0-for-3 from the field, to help LIU to its largest lead of the game, 80-72
- Rodgers hit a step back three from the top of the key with 77 seconds to play and after a defensive stop, Reynolds converted a traditional three-point play to bring Central within two points, 80-78, with 28 seconds remaining, but LIU went 4-4 from the free throw line over the final possessions to seal with win
NUMBER TO KNOW
9 – LIU outscored CCSU 18-9 in second chance points, aided by a 19-9 offensive rebounding edge.
NOTES
- Smith scored 20+ points for the eighth game of the season, including his third straight.
- Rodgers posted his second double-double of the season. His 14 assists was the second-most in a game by an NEC athlete this season.
- CCSU lost a game it shot better than 50 percent from the field in for the first time since Nov. 20, 2022, at UMBC when it shot 52.7 percent from the field in a 78-76 setback.
UP NEXT
- The Blue Devils begin a two-game NEC homestand on Sunday, when they host New Haven at 1:00 pm at Kaiser Hall.
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