The Sacred Heart University men's basketball team won for the fourth time in five games, defeating Central Connecticut State University 87-52 at the Pitt Center Saturday afternoon. The victory improves the Pioneers 8-6 in the conference, 9-16 overall, while the Blue Devils fall to 3-22 overall and 2-12 in NEC play

Cane Broome led all scorers with 28 points and in the process became the 40^th player in SHU history to record 1,000 career points. The sophomore led three Pioneer players in double digits, with 16 from Quincy McKnight and a dozen from Jordan Allen.

The Pioneers scored on their opening possession on their way to scoring the first 11 points of the game, and never looked back.  The Blue Devils were able to close within six points twice in the first half, but the Pioneers outscored CCSU 30-8 over the final 8:16 of the period to take a 43-25 advantage into the locker room.

Central opened the half with a 5-2 run in the first 2:28, closing within 16 points, 45-29. The Pioneers responded with an 18-4 stretch, building the lead to 30 points, 63-33 with 12:31 to play in the game.

The Pioneers are back in action on Thursday, February 18 when they travel to Bryant for a 7 p.m. game.

Noteworthy

• Cane Broome reached this 1,000-point with a free throw at the 16:09 mark of the second half. He is the 40^th player in Pioneer history to reach the millennium plateau
• Prior to the 35-point victory over, Sacred Heart's last seven games had been decided by single digits. The margin of victory is SHU's largest in the Division I era.
• The 52 points Sacred Heart allowed on Saturday are its fewest since Bryant scored just 46 on February 11, 2012. The 27.4 percent the Blue Devils shot was the lowest by an opponent since Hartford made 27.3 percent on November 11, 2011

• Quincy McKnight had the line of the day with a game-high 13 boards and five assists to go along with his 16 points
• SHU committed a season-low seven turnovers in the game, while dishing out 17 assists, its second highest total of the season

Inside the Box

• The Pioneers held CCSU scoreless for the opening four minutes, 0-6 from the field
• Sacred Heart held a 40-14 edge in points in the paint

How it Happened

First Half

• Sacred Heart scored the first 11 points of the game, with Broome scoring seven of those points, and the team hitting 4-5 from the floor
• An Eyimofe dunk at 13:43 made it 16-5, before CCSU answered with consecutive baskets on its next two possessions
• Broome ended the mini-run with a deep three pointer with 12:09 to play before intermission to make it 19-9
• The Blue Devils twice closed within six point, 21-15 (10:20), and 23-17 (8:22), but Allen answered both times, hitting free throws on the first occasion
• Back-to-back Allen field goals, followed by a Matej Buovac three gave SHU a 7-0 run over 2:06, making the lead 30-17 with 6:10 to play in the half
• pushed the SHU advantage to 30-17
• The Pioneers used a 10-0 run over 3:23 to extend their advantage to 43-22 with 83 seconds left in the half.
• CCSU scored four points in the final 44 seconds to close the halftime deficit to 18, 43-25

Second Half

• Broome scored four straight points, two free throws, in 54 seconds to push the Pioneer advantage to 22, 53-31
• Jahlil Nails free throws made the Pioneer lead 16, 45-29, 2:28 into the second half
• SHU embarked on a 18-4 run in a 5:01 stretch to open a 30 point advantage, 63-33
• The Pioneers closed the game on an 11-3 run over the final 4:03