BOX SCORE
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team suffered its sixth-straight loss on Saturday afternoon as it fell 92-58 to Central Connecticut State University at Detrick Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. The Hawks, which had scored just 13 points in the opening half, bounced back for 45 in the final stanza against the neighboring rivals. Hartford falls to 0-6 while the Blue Devils shift to 3-2 with its third-straight victory.
Freshman Nate Sikma led the Hawks in the loss with 11 points, six rebounds and a career-high five assists. Rookie Wes Cole followed suit with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting while classmate Jamie Schneck joined senior Clayton Brothers with nine points each.
Hartford, which kept Central Connecticut scoreless through the first four minutes of action and did not allow a field goal until the 15:01 mark, took the lead early as Sikma and Clayton Brothers drilled jumpers during that Blue Devils' drought. The Hawks led by as much as four points at 6-2 when Brothers converted on his second shot attempt of the contest with 15:16 remaining in the first.
The Hawks' lead was short-lived however as Robby Ptacek, a senior, sank a three pointer for the Blue Devils at the 15:01 mark which sparked a 10-0 run that distanced themselves from the Hawks for good. From the 15:01 mark, Central Connecticut held Hartford to just seven points including three field goals – a trey and lay-up by Cole at the 12:10 and 11:16 marks followed by a lay-up by Schneck with just over four minutes remaining in the first.
Ptacek accounted for half of the Blue Devils' points in the opening stanza which helped push the Blue Devils ahead at 19-11. From that point, Central Connecticut rattled off 17 unanswered points to take a 34-11 lead with more than four minutes to play.
Hartford shot just 22.2-percent (6-of-27) from the floor in the opening 20 including just 1-of-9 from long range (11.1-percent) and was plagued with 15 turnovers which led to 17 Central Connecticut points. On the other hand, the Blue Devils lit up the floor converting on 15-of-23 first half shots and 5-of-7 from downtown.
In the second half, the Hawks put together a 69.2-percent shooting effort from the floor (18-of-26), including 50.0-percent from three (3-of-6) and added 45 points, the most scored in a half this year, to the scoreboard. Hartford closed out the game shooting 45.3-percent. Vinales dominated for the Blue Devils in the final stanza, scoring 22 of his 25 points during that 20-minute stretch including 9-of-12 from the field.
The Hawks trailed by as much as 40 points in the second half but were able to trim that deficit to 31 points in the closing minute of the game. Vinales, Ptacek and veteran Ken Horton combined for 69 points for the Blue Devils with 25, 24 and 20 points, respectively.
Hartford returns home after a 13-day absence by welcoming Yale, another Nutmeg State foe, into the Reich Family Pavilion on Tuesday, Nov. 29. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 860-768-HAWK or by visiting the Malcolm and Brenda Berman Athletics Ticket Office at the Reich Family Pavilion. Fans who can't make it out to the game can listen to all of the action on WDRC-1360 AM, the flagship station of Hartford men's basketball, where Jeff Dooley and Randy LaVigne will have the call.
