By Kenny Barto
Bad blood spilling over from three technical fouls called during the CCSU Men’s Basketball game at Long Island University-Brooklyn led to a post game scuffle that could cost athletes some playing time.
The fight began when players started shoving during the post game handshake line. It wasn’t clear who or what started it, but the scuffle quickly escalated and the action moved towards the basket in front of the CCSU bench. In some photos taken, you can see Kenny Horton playing peacemaker and doing his best to hold back Joe Efese, who was called for a technical foul at the 17:40 mark of the second half after some trash talk with LIU forward Julian Boyd.
“Coaches were shaking hands, and all of a sudden I looked up and it was just a rumble,” CCSU head coach Howie Dickenman said. “I don’t know anybody that saw exactly what happened, but we should have a tape of what happened and we’ll study it.”
After all was said and done, the Blue Devils (10-12, 7-5 NEC) fell to LIU (17-7, 11-1 NEC) by a score of 95-80. They have lost five of their last seven, including a Thursday night loss at St. Francis (N.Y.), just a few blocks away from the LIU-Brooklyn campus.
“We got beat up inside, they are very good,” said Dickenman. “We played good in spurts, but it’s tough to play 40 minutes against a team like that, the defending champions of the league.”
The Blue Devils faced incredible odds going into the match-up at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletics Center sitting in the middle of downtown Brooklyn, where the Blackbirds have defended their home court since a December 8, 2010 loss to Iona.
“They came in and won 21 consecutive home games,” Dickenman said. “I had started to believe we were going to break that streak, but we came up short.”
In the first half, CCSU’s offense came out strong, and at the 12:30 mark led the Blackbirds 15-9. The Blue Devils held the lead until the 9:28 mark when Jamal Olasewere gave LIU the lead, 25-23. The Blue Devils would fight back to tie the game at 31 before the Blackbirds went on an 18-5 run to close out the first half with a 49-36 lead.
CCSU did come out strong in the second half despite the deficit, and quickly closed the lead to within five points at the 15:43 mark. However the deficit was once again extended when LIU went on yet another run, this time an 11-0 to put the Blue Devils down by 16 with 12:54 remaining.
“I thought we came out strong in the second half, we closed the lead to four or five, and then I look up and they just went on an 11-0 run,” said Dickenman. “I thought we battled, but in the end, they were just better than us.”
The Blue Devils would never recover, and were down by as much as 24 points, but LIU subbed out a few players and played a relaxed defense that allowed CCSU to get within 15 points.
Horton had a strong second half showing, going 7-for-8 from the field, including 2-2 from 3-point range. He finished the game with 29 points and 10 rebounds, six of them being on the offensive glass.
“He had a strong second half,” Dickenman said. “That was the Kenny Horton we had been looking for and hoping for, and he’s just got to carry it over to the next few games.”
Robby Ptacek added 24 points as the second highest scorer, shooting 9-18 from the field, and was a perfect 5-for-5 on the free throw line.
The one missing ingredient seemed to be Kyle Vinales, who has shot 14-for-49, 28.6 percent in his last three games.
“Kyle is struggling, he doesn’t seem to have the speed and quickness that he had earlier this year,” Dickenman said. “He’s in a slump, his confidence is down a little bit, but the only way to get out of it is to shoot the ball, so I don’t have an issue with him shooting the ball 13 times per game.”
The Blue Devils have back-to-back games against Quinnipiac this week as a part of “Rivalry Week.” CCSU will play at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden on Wednesday night before hosting the Bobcats on Sunday at noon.
