Box Score
New Britain, Conn. - - -The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers came up just short in their bid to host a Northeast Conference Quarterfinal game after falling in overtime to the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, 78-75, on Saturday afternoon at Detrick Gymnasium. The Terriers finished the regular-season with a record of 13-17 (10-8 NEC) and will be the #5 seed in the upcoming tournament. St. Francis Brooklyn will face #4 LIU Brooklyn at the Steinberg Center in the opening round.
Sophomore guard
Rasheem Dunn scored a team-high 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and came up with five steals to pace the Red & Blue. Junior guard
Glenn Sanabria scored all 15 of his points after halftime and sophomore forward
Milija Cosic and freshman guard
Chauncey Hawkins added 11 points apiece.
The Blue Devils opened the game by scoring the first 10 points. Senior Mustafa Jones scored the first bucket with a layup and his fast-break dunk off a pass from junior Eric Bowles capped the initial flurry to make it 10-0 at the 17:20 mark.
The Terriers, who are 0-4 in overtime contests, answered with six straight points and would hold the Blue Devils to just two field goals over the next 6:06. A Cosic layup opened St. Francis Brooklyn's scoring to begin the stretch that would give the visitors the lead. After a layup by senior Shakaris Laney, the Terriers answered with eight straight points and Chauncey Hawkins' layup would make it 19-16.
The teams would go back-and-forth for much of the rest of the half. An 8-0 CCSU spurt opened on a trifecta by junior Austin Nehls was capped off by five straight points from sophomore Chris Williams. A trey by Williams gave CCSU a 34-30 lead.
The Terriers would close the half by outscoring the Blue Devils, 10-2. A three-pointer by Hawkins with 42 seconds left in the half made it 40-36 at the intermission.
St. Francis Brooklyn would push the lead to 49-40 following a Glenn Sanabria trifecta with 14:20 remaining, but that was as large as the lead would grow.
The Blue Devils began to chip away at the deficit and a three-pointer by sophomore Joe Hugley would make it 60-59 with 6:32 left. After a Terrier bucket, a layup by junior Tyler Kohl and a dunk by Jones would give CCSU a 63-62 lead with 4:05 remaining.
Dunn then scored five straight points as part of a 7-0 St. Francis Brooklyn rally. Glenn Sanabria hit two foul shots to make it 69-63 with 2:35 to play.
The Blue Devils rallied late with back-to-back hoops from Jones and Kohl with 1:30 to play. With 22 seconds remaining, Laney came up with a steal and got the ball to Bowles who was fouled. Bowles converted both foul shots to tie the score and send the game to overtime before Sanabria misfired on a trey that would have won the game.
In the extra session, Dunn would sandwich a pair of buckets around a Kohl layup to make it 73-71. Hugley hit his fourth trey of the game to put Central up one before the Terriers regained the lead on a layup by Cosic with 0:42 to play. A layup by Bowles would give Central a 76-75 lead and Kohl hit two foul shots to seal the win. A Terriers; three to tie by Sanabria was off the mark with 0:01 to play.
Hugley went 5-of-6 from the field, 4-of-5 from the arc, to lead CCSU with 20 points. Jones added 14 points and eight rebounds. Kohl added 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Laney had seven points and three steals, while Bowles had eight points and five assists.
The Terriers were 30-of-63 (.476) from the field and 9-of-26 (.346) from three-point range.
The Blue Devils shot 27-of-50 (.540) from the floor and 7-of-13 (.538) from the arc. CCSU was 17-of-23 (.739) at the foul line and outrebounded the Terriers, 34-23.
