Bristol Press

Late 3 overshadow Brown’s career performance

BY CHRIS HARRIS SPORTS EDITOR

NEW BRITAIN — Central Connecticut State head men’s basketball coach Patrick Sellers told a quick story post game Thursday night about the unassuming Jayden Brown.

“Before every game in the locker room, we’re in a huddle and I give the keys to the game and we begin jumping around. Before the LIU game, I forgot and J.B. was like ‘no, no, no,’ and began jumping in the huddle and it just got everyone fired up,” Sellers recalled.

In that game against LIU on Jan. 22, a win for the Blue Devils, Brown played over 23 minutes, scoring six points with three rebounds and a steal.

He had a +15 for the game.

“He went into the game against LIU and played great in that game and it just carried over from that game to this game,” said Sellers after CCSU’s contest against Merrimack Thursday night from Detrick Gymnasium.

“This is the Jayden Brown that we expect. He’s a good player,” Sellers said.

Brown, who came into the game against Merrimack averaging just 3.8 points per game, scored a career high 17 points on 8 of 11 shooting. He also had three rebounds, two blocked shots and an assist in 28 minutes. He alone outscored Merrimack’s bench 17 to 7.

Brown’s previous high was 13 points against Stony Brook in December of 2021. His eight made field goals was also a career high.

“I was shooting well in warmups and then my team was finding me, putting me in the right position to score and that really helped me,” Brown said.

“All year Jayden has been up and down and the last couple of games we’re starting to see what he’s capable of. So hopefully he can carry that on,” said Sellers.

Brown recognized his coach’s assessment and spoke about the inconsistency.

“In the beginning of the year I was kinda in a little slump,” Brown began. “Coach called me in and we talked about playing hard and the opportunities that I was getting. So I started playing my heart out, playing harder to get out of the slump.”

“It has been things he’s been doing all year and I don’t know, he just woke up and hopefully we can get that Jayden Brown the rest of the year,” Sellers added.

Brown made some key plays in the second half as the game teetered. His dunk with 7:57 remaining in the game kept the Blue Devils (5-17, 3-5 Northeast Conference) to within two and after the Warriors (7-15, 5-3 NEC) went up nine, his basket at 3:48 cut the deficit to five. Brown’s blocked shot with 1:45 left in the game led to a Nigel Scantlebury 3-pointer that made the score 61-59.

A Kellen Amos dunk with 48 seconds left tied the game at 61.

Both Sellers and Brown

emphasized that it was Andre Snoddy (who finished the game with 12 points and 13 rebounds, his third straight double-double) who rallied them on for the final possessions.

“When coach called a timeout, we all took a deep breath and Dre really emphasized that we’re not losing this game,” Brown recalled.

With possession and 20 seconds left, a Scantlebury turnover led to Javon Bennett’s 3 with 2 seconds left on the clock that lifted the

Warriors over CCSU 64-61, putting a damper on Brown’s career night.

“It hurts,” Sellers said about the loss. “You want to see the guys get paid back for all of the hard work. Maybe it wasn’t [tonight], maybe it’ll come in the next one.”

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2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://bristolpress.pressreader.com/article/281771338327047

Alberta Newspaper Group