Mercyhurst Lakers (14-15, 9-7 NEC) at Central Connecticut State Blue Devils (16-11, 10-6 NEC)
New Britain, Connecticut; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Mercyhurst plays Cent. Conn. St. after Qadir Martin scored 25 points in Mercyhurst’s 91-83 win against the Long Island Sharks.
The Blue Devils have gone 8-3 in home games. Cent. Conn. St. scores 74.3 points and has outscored opponents by 3.4 points per game.
The Lakers are 9-7 in NEC play. Mercyhurst ranks eighth in the NEC with 29.0 rebounds per game led by Martin averaging 6.8.
Cent. Conn. St. makes 47.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.1 percentage points higher than Mercyhurst has allowed to its opponents (44.0%). Mercyhurst has shot at a 45.6% rate from the field this season, 3.0 percentage points higher than the 42.6% shooting opponents of Cent. Conn. St. have averaged.
The teams play for the second time in conference play this season. Mercyhurst won the last matchup 79-61 on Jan. 19. Bernie Blunt scored 20 points to help lead the Lakers to the victory.
TOP PERFORMERS: Darin Smith Jr. is shooting 45.8% and averaging 20.2 points for the Blue Devils. Melo Sanchez is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Blunt is averaging 17.3 points for the Lakers. Jake Lemelman is averaging 15.5 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Devils: 6-4, averaging 68.1 points, 30.1 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 5.0 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 45.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.6 points per game.
Lakers: 6-4, averaging 73.8 points, 29.1 rebounds, 15.0 assists, 6.8 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 46.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.2 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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