A 20-year-old from Old Saybrook has died and his 19-year-old friend is in the hospital after the young men were struck by a car while crossing a highway in New Jersey after attending the UConn game Thursday night, according to police.

Police said the victims, both Connecticut natives, and two other friends had attended the men's basketball game against Duke at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and were walking across Route 3 around 10:30 p.m. Thursday when they were struck.

Twenty-year-old Ellis Snyder, an Old Saybrook resident and Xavier High School graduate, died at the scene. Friends and community members said Snyder was a student at the University of Vermont and was home on break.

"It's just very heartbreaking and it's definitely a loss in the community, and definitely going to be felt here by the students and by the whole town," said Old Saybrook resident Kelly Ledwith, who went to elementary and middle school with Snyder.

Ledwith said Snyder had worked at Between the Bridges Marina and was well known throughout a close-knit community.

"He was very nice. A lot of people were saying he had a big personality, brought life everywhere he went," she explained.

Old Saybrook Selectman Scott Giegrich said his son played baseball with Snyder for years.

"Ellis was on many all-star teams and he played on some of those traveling baseball teams," Giegrich said, adding that Snyder went on to play baseball at Xavier. "[He was a] second baseman, dynamic young man, with a smile on his face at all times."

Giegrich worked with police and other community officials to gather friends and family members at Old Saybrook High School on Friday evening and provide support to those affected by Snyder's death.

"It's going to be sad for anyone and everyone, but the one thing that's great about a small town is you will see people come together," Giegrich said.

Snyder's friend was taken to Hackensack Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, according to police in New Jersey. Two other people with them were not hurt.

Authorities have identified the driver only as a 35-year-old man who was traveling eastbound on Route 3. No charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing.