Click Here For Boxscore
Click Here For Photo Gallery
Lexington, KY -- The magical 2006-07 season for the Central Connecticut State men’s basketball team came to a close on Thursday night with a 78-57 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to the #1 team in the land, Ohio State. The Blue Devils finish their run with a 22-12 overall record including wins in 19 of their final 22 games on the season. CCSU won its third regular season Northeast Conference title and followed that up with its third tournament title to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.
Senior Javier Mojica scored 19 points in the loss while senior Jemino Sobers had 10 points and eight rebounds in the his final game at CCSU.
Ohio State used an 11-0 run in the final 3:57 of the first half to open up a 38-17 halftime lead. The Blue Devils had cut a 14-point Buckeye lead to 10 on a pair of free-throws from senior Obie Nwadike with 4:28 on the clock.
CCSU hit only 6-of-20 from the field in the first half but hit 3-of-7 from three-point land. Mojica led the way offensively with seven points and a pair of assists before the break.
Ohio State led by as many as 27 in the second half, 51-24, before the Blue Devils mounted a comeback. Trailing 57-32 CCSU used a 9-0 run to cut it to 57-41 with 10:40 to play. During the run Sobers hit a jumper in the paint followed by a pair of free-throws. Mojica had a steal and a lay in on the other end and freshman Joe Seymore hit a three to make it a 16-point lead for the nation's top team.
The Blue Devils hung with the talented Buckeyes in the second half but could not overcome the sluggish start. CCSU finished the game hitting 10-of-26 threes including seven in the second half. Junior guard Tristan Blackwood, who was scoreless before the half, hit four threes in the second half to finish the season with a school and NEC-record 122 threes on the season.
Four Blue Devils scored in double-figures in the game including Mojica's 19 and 10 by Sobers. Seymore and Blackwood each finished with 12 points, all on threes. Sobers had eight rebounds while Mojica had six and added four assists. Against the Buckeye defensive pressure CCSU turned the ball over three times in the second half. Offensively each team scored 40 in the second half.
Freshman All-American Greg Oden finished the game with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Jamar Butler had 17 points including 5-of-6 from three-point land.
The Blue Devils finish the season with the third-most wins in Division I school history, 22. They won their third NEC title with a 74-70 win over Sacred Heart last week in front of a sold out crowd in Detrick Gym.
"It's real tough [to play our last game in a CCSU uniform]," Nwadike said in the post-game press conference. "Not really because we lost. It's always hard when you lose, emotionally. But, for us the seniors it's tough because it is the last time we'll put on a Central Connecticut uniform. We're a real close group. We're all like brothers. The biggest thing is not being able to go to practice tomorrow, not being able to bond like we do. I think emotionally it hurts, you never want to lose, and you never want to go out with a loss. We accomplished a couple of things this year like winning the conference; we finally got ourselves to the tournament. We're all seniors and I think we set a good standard and everyone knows that we never quit. The biggest thing is that I, Javier and Jemino are never going to be able to play as a team again."