×

Hoops du Jour

Men: C. Conn. State at SFU

Tipoff: 7 p.m., DeGol Arena, Loretto

Records: Central Connecticut State (9-4, 0-0 Northeast); Saint Francis (5-9, 0-0 Northeast)

TV: NEC Front Row

Notable: Tonight’s game between Saint Francis and CCSU marks the 56th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1994-95 season. SFU leads the all-time series, 28-27, and holds a 19-10 advantage at DeGol Arena, but the Blue Devils won all three meetings last season. It was the first time CCSU swept a season series since 2011-12. … Devin Haid leads CCSU with 12.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Jordan Jones (12.1 ppg.) and Jayden Brown (10.9 ppg.) also average double figures scoring. … SFU’s Bobby Rosenberger III is ranks fifth in the NEC in scoring, averaging 12.3 ppg and shooting 45.5 percent, while Miles Webb actually leads the Red Flash in shooting percentage at 60.3 percent. … The Blue Devils are 5-0 at home this season and 4-3 on the road with an 0-1 mark at a neutral site.

Mirror prediction: CCSU 77, SFU 70

Mirror prediction record: 13-1

— Dan Isenberg

Red Flash pick up victory on the road

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — The Saint Francis women’s basketball team jumped out to a 36-24 halftime lead Thursday afternoon en route to a 79-63 Northeast Conference win at Central Connecticut State.

The Lady Red Flash improved to 3-11 overall and 1-0 in the NEC while CCSU fell to 1-13 overall and 0-1 in the NEC.

Natalie Johnson and Jade Campbell had big days for the Lady Red Flash. Johnson had 20 points, including a 4-for-5 showing from 3-point land, while Campbell scored 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

The Blue Devils, who were out-rebounded, 42-31, got 17 points off the bench from Amaya Williams to go with 12 each from Belle Lanpher and Alonna Sellers.

Saint Francis is at Stonehill Saturday at 2 p.m.

SAINT FRANCIS (79): Johnson 8-9 0-0 20, Boyd 4-12 1-3 10, Plata 3-6 1-2 7, Gibson 3-5 0-0 6, Artero 1-1 0-0 2, Campbell 8-14 3-4 19, Bell 3-3 0-0 6, Shelton 2-6 0-0 4, Lavy 1-1 0-0 3, Robinson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 34-58 5-9 79.

CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE (63): Lanpher 4-15 4-4 12, Sellers 4-12 4-6 12, Slomack3-11 0-0 9, Monestime 3-7 0-2 6, Kenfick 0-3 0-0 0, Williams 6-9 1-1 17, Noin 3-9 0-1 7, Farrell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-67 63.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Saint Francis 18 18 24 19 — 79

Central Connecticut State 12 12 22 17 — 63

3-point goals: SFU 6-14 (Johnson 4-5, Boyd 1-3, Plata 0-2, Shelton 0-3, Lavy 1-1); CCSU 8-26 (Lanpher 0-5, Slomack 3-11, Kenefick 0-1, Williams 4-5, Noin 1-4). Rebounds: SFU 42 (Campbell 11); CCSU 31 (Sellers 10). Assists: 14 (Plata 6), CCSU 12 (Lanpher 5). Attendance: 212.

No. 20 Purdue cruises to victory

MINNEAPOLIS — Fletcher Loyer scored 24 points on 8-for-10 shooting and Braden Smith had 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds as No. 20 Purdue pulled away from Minnesota for an 81-61 victory.

Loyer and Smith each hit four 3-pointers after halftime. Trey Kaufman-Renn added 17 points as the Boilermakers notched their first road win of the season after losing at Marquette and Penn State. Purdue has the best road record in conference play over the last three seasons.

Dawson Garcia scored 20 points for the Gophers. Minnesota is last in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting and went 4 for 17 from long range.

Thunder winners of 13 straight

OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder won their franchise-record 13th consecutive regular-season game, 116-98 over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night.

The Thunder trailed by 16 in the first half before pulling within 52-48 at halftime. Shaking off a cold shooting first half, the Thunder exploded for 42 third-quarter points and an 18-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Gilgeous-Alexander also had a game high eight assists for the Thunder.

Tatum leads Celtics to victory

MINNEAPOLIS — Jayson Tatum had 33 points, nine assists and eight rebounds as the Boston Celtics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-115.

Derrick White scored 26 points for Boston, while Sam Hauser — filing in for the injured Jaylen Brown — hit five 3-pointers and scored 15 points.Julius Randle led Minnesota with 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Naz Reid scored 20 off the bench, while Jaden McDaniels had 19 points and eight boards.

Early leaders named in All-Star voting

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is the early leader in fan balloting for the NBA All-Star Game, and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers seems well on his way toward extending his record and getting picked for a 21st time.

The first update on All-Star voting for this season’s revised game was released Thursday, with Antetokounmpo the overall leader with about 1.7 million votes. Denver’s Nikola Jokic is second overall with about 1.4 million votes, which is tops among all Western Conference players.

The 10 players on pace to be selected as starters, at least based on the fan balloting: Antetokounmpo, Boston’s Jayson Tatum, New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns, Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell from the Eastern Conference, and Jokic, Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dallas’ Luka Doncic and James from the West.

But there won’t be 10 starters this year for the All-Star Game, set to take place Feb. 16 in San Francisco. There will be more.

It’s the first year of a new All-Star format, one where there will be three games. The 24 All-Stars will be drafted into three teams of eight players apiece by TNT personalities and former NBA greats Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

Those three teams will be entered into a four-team tournament, with the remaining squad being the team of NBA rookies and second-year players that wins the Rising Stars event on All-Star Friday. There are two semifinal games, followed by the winners meeting in a championship game.

It will be wildly different than last year, when the All-Star Game final score was 211-186 — the highest-scoring one in history.

Voting continues through Jan. 20.

Fan voting makes up 50% of the All-Star starter selection formula, with media voting accounting for another 25% and voting by current NBA players counting for the remaining 25%.

From Mirror, wire reports

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today