Dec. 6, 2007

Final Stats

NEW BRITAIN, CT - Senior guard Drew Shubik (Stoystown, PA) scored a game-high 20 points, while Brice Brooks (Silverdale, WA) added 19 and a game-high eight rebounds to lead the Sacred Heart men's basketball team to a 68-52 win over Central Connecticut State in a Northeast Conference game Thursday night. It was the first win at Central for the Pioneers in Division I since 1999, and snapped a 17-game home winning streak for the Blue Devils.

Brooks and Shubik scored the first eight points for the Pioneers to open up and 8-2 lead four minutes in. A CCSU layup by Ken Horton with 12:29 left in the first half tied the game at 11-11.

With Sacred Heart leading 17-16 with 6:14 remaining in the first after a CCSU bucket by Marcus Palmer, the Pioneers used a 9-2 run in the next two minutes to open the gap to 26-18. Shubik capped the spurt with a straight-away three from the top of the circle. SHU carried that eight-point edge into the locker room at half, 32-24.

Central Connecticut, 2-6 overall and 0-1 in the NEC, never got closer than five the entire second half - that coming on a Palmer layup with 14:20 left in the game that made it 40-35. Two minutes later, back-to-back threes by Chauncey Hardy (Middletown, CT) and Ryan Litke (Windsor, CT) had the Pioneers up 51-37. SHU maintained the double digit lead the rest of the contest.

The win was the third straight for Sacred Heart and improved the record to 3-6 overall and 2-0 in the NEC. Along with the performances by Shubik and Brooks, Litke also finished in double figures with 12 points. In addition to his scoring, Shubik had five rebounds, six assists and three steals. The Pioneers held Central to just 2-17 shooting from three-point range.

SHU will be off until December 19 when they travel to take on Providence College.