CCSU coach Howie Dickenman called Wednesday night's effort the best Central has played in a "couple of years."
It was hard to argue. The Blue Devils, seemingly healthy again, appear on the verge of another run like they had to start the year. In fact, they need one. With four more home games to play in this homestand, the time is now to gain back some of the ground lost in the last 2 weeks. The UMass game and the first 2 NEC games at home are all huge, but the Brown game is big because Central needs to rack up wins before the big ones come.
To do that, Ken Horton and Shemik Thompson are going to have to produce like this consistently. But this game showed off Central's depth. Vince Rosario is back healthy and De'Angelo Speech continues to get better.
It's incredibly unfair to do the kind of comparative score exorcises we're all tempted to do, but let's do it anyway: UNH led UConn in the second half. Central just smacked UNH. Just saying. Central should have beaten Dayton and looked great tonight against a team that, on its best night at least, can play with the big boys, too. Things are suddenly looking up again at Detrick.
To see how that happened, let's do another exorcise I call man-to-man.
Markeys Deans: He scored well and efficiently, but didn't play much against UNH's big front line. His production has decreased of late, but when he's the 4th or 5th option, you're in good shape.
De'Angelo Speech: Terrific performance. Six assists, no turnovers and a steal in 26 minutes. He hasn't figured out the offense yet, but he does a bunch of things and provides energy.
Devan Bailey: Four assists, only one turnover, and two blocks. Another example of a player who is limited offensively but finds ways to contribute. A team can't afford too many of those, but a couple of "glue guy" types help any team.
Robby Ptacek: Interesting that he didn't get to the foul line a game after committing a couple of charges, but he played pretty well. Four turnovers, but his three steals led to huge fast breaks. Two in particular came during the the big run that put Central ahead for good.
Ken Horton: Another great effort, including his 1,000th point. Got the ball inside against some big boys in blue, and grabbed 8 boards. On the other end he had 3 blocks. Didn't go crazy with 3-point tries. Really well done.
Vince Rosario: Reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. He returned to the rotation and looked like his old self, getting up six shots in 14 minutes.
Shemik Thompson: Howie Dickenman said after the game that he planned on keeping Thompson in the spark off the bench role, and he was a spark Wednesday. He immediately changed the game when he came in about 3 minutes in, and I think you'll continue to see him in this role. It will ruin his career starts numbers, but for now it might be the best for the team, particularly if he's going to play like this. 15 assists and 3 turnovers in the last 2 games.
Mark Laporte: Welcome to the blog young man. The biggest mistake Rosario made in the game was not getting Laporte the ball on that fast break near the end.
Joe Efese: Dickenman begged for more aggression from him after Sunday's game and got it last night. Six points and 4 boards in 11 minutes is a good start.
Chris Baskerville: Good to see him on the floor. Five minutes is a start, and two boards. If he can ever give Central another presence inside, it would be a huge help.
Terrell Allen: A little bit of everything in 14 minutes. As Speech develops into a starter on this team, Allen will have to go into Speech's all-purpose role.
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