Sanchez leads Cent. Conn. St. against Chicago State after 23-point game

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Central Connecticut State Blue Devils (16-10, 10-5 NEC) at Chicago State Cougars (6-22, 4-11 NEC)

Chicago; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Cent. Conn. St. takes on Chicago State after Melo Sanchez scored 23 points in Cent. Conn. St.'s 78-77 win over the Le Moyne Dolphins.

The Cougars are 4-6 on their home court. Chicago State is 2-12 against opponents with a winning record.

The Blue Devils are 10-5 in NEC play. Cent. Conn. St. leads the NEC scoring 75.2 points per game while shooting 47.7%.

Chicago State is shooting 40.4% from the field this season, 2.2 percentage points lower than the 42.6% Cent. Conn. St. allows to opponents. Cent. Conn. St. averages 7.7 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.6 fewer made shots on average than the 10.3 per game Chicago State allows.

The teams square off for the second time in conference play this season. Cent. Conn. St. won the last matchup 78-67 on Feb. 6. Darin Smith Jr. scored 24 points to help lead the Blue Devils to the win.

TOP PERFORMERS: CJ Ray is scoring 13.6 points per game and averaging 4.6 rebounds for the Cougars. Marcus Tankersley is averaging 12.6 points and 2.3 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Smith is averaging 20.3 points and 5.1 rebounds for the Blue Devils. Max Frazier is averaging 12.8 points and 7.8 rebounds over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cougars: 4-6, averaging 65.3 points, 26.9 rebounds, 13.1 assists, 7.4 steals and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 42.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.4 points per game.

Blue Devils: 6-4, averaging 69.1 points, 29.4 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 5.0 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.5 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.