SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Northeast Conference play opened up on Thursday night, and one team sent notice that a championship is going to have to go through them. Central Connecticut manhandled an improved Bryant team 83-51 in a game that was never competitive, and did so with a complete effort. To boot, it was on the road and with a crowd that was not hostile but certainly up for the game.
The fans saw a good game, all right. It just wasn’t by the team they were rooting for.
Central Connecticut dominated the game from the beginning, and did so starting at the defensive end while scoring the game’s first 13 points. They didn’t let Bryant get anything close to the basket for much of the first half, and when the Bulldogs missed or turned the ball over, the Blue Devils would turn that into run-outs and oftentimes an easy basket. They had a 15-0 edge in points off turnovers in the first half as they only turned it over four times while forcing the Bulldogs into 10.
The Blue Devils weren’t content with their first half, though, and it showed as they kept their foot on the gas pedal right away. They hit five of their first seven shots, including all four attempts from long range, and later built the lead as high as 36. Just over eight minutes in, they were 10-14 from the field and 6-8 from long range for the half.
“There was no coming back on them tonight, the way they played,” Bryant head coach Tim O’Shea said.
Central Connecticut coach Howie Dickenman thought back to their prior game, when they gave up 45 second-half points against offensively-challenged Hartford, for his halftime message to the team.
“We told our team at halftime we don’t want a repeat, where we let up and let Bryant score and get some easy shots,” said the Blue Devil mentor. “We didn’t want to give them a chance to get a run, because when you have as many good three-point shooters as they have, they can slice an 18-point lead in half.”
Symbolic not only of the night, but of how the Blue Devils didn’t stop until it was over, was a sequence with under six minutes left. Raphael Jordan hit a three-pointer off an offensive rebound, then lollygagged back up the floor as Robby Ptacek beat him for a breakaway dunk to put Central Connecticut back up by 29.
Central Connecticut has the NEC’s best player in Ken Horton, and he certainly showed that on Thursday. Besides the numbers, he was active at both ends and played like a leader. You could have watched the game without ever seeing a stat sheet and known that he was the best player on the floor. Horton had 32 points, three off his career high, and did so on 13-19 shooting including 6-10 from long range. Horton also led the rebounding effort with nine and continues to expand his game, as he’s significantly better than he was when he first arrived in New Britain.
But the real reason the Blue Devils will contend can be found in the backcourt. Guard play is hugely important in college basketball, and the Blue Devils have an impressive trio that has ironically been boosted by two freshmen. Robby Ptacek is the seasoned veteran and having an excellent start to his senior season, including 20 points on Thursday night and keying the defensive effort, but he has plenty of help with the conference’s best newcomer thus far in Kyle Vinales and backcourt mate Malcolm McMillan. Vinales has won the NEC’s Rookie of the Week honor every week thus far and leads the team in scoring, while McMillan had 13 assists on Thursday night.
The offensive value is obvious, especially on Thursday night as McMillan led a Blue Devil team that had 25 assists on 32 made field goals. But that’s not all Horton notices about the impact of the freshmen guards.
“I tell them before every game that they set the tone for us on defense,” said Horton. “Malcolm gets right in his man’s shirt for 94 feet. He did it on both ends tonight, he had seven rebounds.”
For his part, Vinales, who had 15 points and five assists on Thursday, has been eager to take the lessons the veterans have for him. In particular, they have helped him overcome in-game adversity to continue to be the productive player he has early in his career.
Central Connecticut was picked third in the NEC’s preseason poll. It’s no secret that the Blue Devils have a good team, and Dickenman has led them to the NCAA Tournament before and has established this program as a consistently good one. They have the seniors in Horton and Ptacek to go with the young talent that has been added, and Horton and Ptacek seem to be playing with the urgency of seniors that often helps win a conference like the NEC. On Thursday night, they looked every bit the part of a contender, and there’s still a lot of upside for this team.
