Jefferson Scored a Career-high 18 Points in the Win over Santa Clara

Dec. 28, 2004

Box Score

Santa Clara, CA - The Central Connecticut men's basketball team advanced to the championship game of the Cable Car Classic with an 80-68 victory on Tuesday night over host Santa Clara University. Sophomore forward Obie Nwadike scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds while junior Lenny Jefferson scored a career-high 18 points including four threes to lead the Blue Devils. Central Connecticut will face either Yale or Charlotte in the championship game on Wednesday night at 11:00 p.m. eastern time.

In the first half, the Blue Devils took a 12-point lead at the break after a steal and a three by sophomore Javier Mojica (10 points) seven seconds before the buzzer sounded. Central Connecticut once again started the first half with strong shooting taking a 22-11 lead but the Broncos cut the lead to 25-20 with 4:25 to play in the half. A 12-5 run for the Blue Devils gave them the 12-point lead at the break. For the half, the Blue Devils hit 5-of-12 from three point land and 13-of-28 from the floor, good for 46.4 percent. They outrebounded the Broncos 23-10 in the half including 10 offensive rebounds.

In the second half, Central Connecticut stretched the lead to as much as 17 at 57-40 with 12:25 left in the game but the Broncos used some hot shooting to get as close as five at 62-57, a 17-5 run for Santa Clara, with 6:07 left. With the lead down to five, the Blue Devils responded with a 9-0 run to get back up by 14, the lead would never get below 12 in the final four minutes.

In the final five minutes of the game, the Blue Devils hit nine of 10 free-throws and finished the game 19-of-24 from the line, upping their season average to 75 percent (99-of-132) on the season.

The Blue Devils ended the game with a 33-31 advantage on the boards and dished out 17 assists on 26 baskets, including nine threes. In the last two games the Blue Devils have hit 20 three-point shots, including eight from Jefferson on 11 total attempts. The Blue Devils shot 53.1 percent from the floor, the second best outing of the season.

The Blue Devils were led by Nwadike and Jefferson while sophomore DeMario Anderson added 17 points and played much of the game in foul trouble. Anderson was 6-of-6 from the line and 3-of-3 from three on the night. Junior Justin Chiera had a season-high five assists while Anderson added four and Jefferson and freshman Jason Hickenbottom had three.

The Broncos were led by Doron Perkins who had 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting. Santa Clara's leading scorer Travis Niesen had 10 points and senior Kyle Bailey was just 1-of-11 from the floor and had only two points.

The Blue Devils will play again on Wednesday night in the second day of the Cable Car Classic vs. Yale/Charlotte at 9:00/11:00 p.m. Fans can follow the action live at CCSUBlueDevils.com with live audio and Gametracker.