Brown Bulldozes Central Connecticut State at the Pizzitola Center

Brown news release…

Providence, R.I. – Senior forward Cedric Kuakumensah (Worcester, MA) tied the Ivy League record for career blocked shots and posted a double-double with 21 points and 16 rebounds, to lead Brown to a 82-64 non-league win over Central Connecticut at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

The win lifted the Bears to 2-5 overall, while Central Connecticut falls to 0-6.

Kuakumensah, Brown’s two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, connected on 7-of-11 field goals and 6-of-6 free throws in scoring 21 points.  He rejected four shots against the Blue Devils and equaled the all-time Ivy record of 252 career blocked shots by Dartmouth’s Brian Gilpin from 1993-1997.

“Congratulations to Cedric for tying the Ivy League blocked shots record,” said Brown head coach Mike Martin.  “It’s a remarkable achievement.  Cedric has meant so much to our program for the last four years.  He was all over the place tonight with a dominating performance.”

Bears’ junior guard Tavon Blackmon (Upper Marlboro, MD) scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Jason Massey (Cooper City, FL) added 11 points and eight rebounds, and freshman guard Corey Daugherty (Barrington, RI) chipped in with 10 points for the Bears.

The Blue Devils were paced by Khale Cumberlander with 13 points,  Mustafa Jones had 12 points and nine rebounds, while Jahlil Nails netted 10 points.

Kuakumensah helped the Bears build a 20-point lead at the half with 17 points and nine rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. Brown led 26-18 with 7:47 remaining and closed the half with a 17-5 run to build a 43-23 lead at intermission.

Central Connecticut cut the Bears’ lead to 12 points, 48-36, with 14:00 left in the game following a trey by Austin Nehls.

That’s when Blackmon took over the game for the Bears, scoring Brown’s next nine points to put the Bears back in control by 19 points, 57-38, with 12:14 remaining.

The Bears led by as many as 23 points in the second half on several occasions, the last with 4:26 remaining on a basket by sophomore Kyle Haber (Dubuque, IA).

Brown travels to Smithfield, R.I. for a match-up with Bryant on Saturday, December 5.  Tip-off at the Chase Center is 4:00pm.