New Britain, Conn. (February 18, 2016)—A late rally came up short as Mount St. Mary's lost at Central Connecticut, 76-72, on Thursday night.  Junior Robinson led the Mount with 18 points in the loss.

Trailing 67-58 with under five minutes remaining, the Mount rallied to get back into the game.  BK Ashe hit a three-pointer, and after a Khalen Cumberlander lay-up for CCSU, Robinson was fouled on a three-pointer, and he hit all three free throws to cut the deficit to 69-64 with 3:41 on the clock.

Cumberlander then hit 1-of-2 at the line, but Ashe countered with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 70-67.  The Mount got a stop on the defensive end, and Robinson converted a fast-break lay-up cut the gap to 70-69 with 1:18 left.  Central Connecticut's Brandon Peel was fouled on the inbounds, and he hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it a three-pointer game/

Gregory Graves then hit 1-of-2 at the line, and the Mount got a turnover with 39 seconds left to get the ball back trailing 72-70.  The Mount found Graves in the low post, but his shot was off the mark, and Cumberlander was fouled.  He hit 1-of-2 with 12 seconds on the clock to make it a three-point game.

CCSU fuoled BK Ashe on the inbounds, and he hit 1-of-2 to make it 73-71.  Peel then hit 1-of-2 at the line with four seconds left for a three-point lead, and CCSU fouled Robinson on the inbounds.  Robinson made the first, and missed the second intentionally, but the Blue Devils got the rebound and hit two free throws with 0.4 seconds left to seal the win.

Robinson led the Mount with 18 points while Ashe added 17 points and seven rebounds in the game.  Graves chipped in 14 points and six rebounds with Taylor Danaher adding eight points and four rebounds off the bench.

Peel led CCSU with 20 points and 12 boards while Austin Nehls had 16 points in the win for CCSU.  The Blue Devils shot 30-of-34 (.882) at the foul line in the game while the Mount was 12-of-17 (.403).

The Mount (12-16, 9-6 NEC) jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes.  Graves started the game with a bucket and Ashe followed with a three-pointer to make it 5-0.  After a CCSU basket, Danaher and Long added consecutive baskets to give the Mount a seven-point lead.

The Blue Devils (4-22, 3-12 NEC) used a 14-to-5 run midway through the half to even the score.  Nehls hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 20-20 and Kevin Seymour followed with a lay-up to put CCSU ahead by two.  A Peel jumper gave the Blue Devils their biggest lead of the half, 32-27, with 5:29 left.

The Mount scored the next six points, four by Graves, to take a 33-32 lead, but CCSU was able to regain the advantage and go to the locker room with a 38-36 lead.  The Mount shot 41.7 percent overall and just 2-of-14 (.143) from three-point range in the opening half.  CCSU shot 44.4 percent, but was 12-of-13 (.923) at the foul line.

Graves led the Mount with 11 points and five rebounds in the opening half.  Nehls tallied 13 points for CCSU in the half.

Mount St. Mary's is back in action on Saturday, February 20, with a 4:00 p.m. game at Bryant.