NEWARK, N.J. – The Chicago State men’s basketball team closed out a five-game road swing here this evening with a 66-37 Great West Conference loss to host NJIT at the Fleisher Athletic Center. The Cougars dropped to 5-16 (0-4) on the season, while the Highlanders improved their record to 6-13 (1-2).
CSU captured an early 7-4 lead within the first three minutes of the game and later gained a 9-7 lead on a jumper from senior Brandan Smith (Bolingbrook, Ill.) at the 11:43 mark. The home team took a 31-7 scoring drive in the final 10:05 of the first half that broke a 9-all tie to post a 40-16 advantage heading into intermission.
In the second half, NJIT opened with a 16-5 run in the opening nine minutes to post its biggest lead of the game at 56-21 at the 11:21 mark following a three-pointer from sophomore Sammy Schnickel. The Cougars could get no closer than 26 points for the rest of the game.
“We’ve got to be able to make shots. We are really struggling in scoring and it’s putting too much pressure on our defense,” said CSU head coach Benjy Taylor. “The scores from our previous games have not been indicative of how hard we have played. It will feel good to finally get back home.”
Junior Christian Wall (New Orleans, La.) led Chicago State with 11 points and junior Carl Montgomery (Chicago, Ill.) recorded a game-high 12 rebounds. Junior Antonio Lofton (Chicago, Ill.) contributed nine points, while Smith added six points, five rebounds and three assists for the Cougars.
Junior Jheryl Wilson scored a game-high 23 points with eight rebounds to pace NJIT, while sophomore Isaiah Wilkerson posted 17 points. Freshman Chris Flores added seven points and a game-high four steals.
CSU opens a three-game Great West Conference homestand beginning Thursday, Jan. 28 with a conference showdown against Utah Valley at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center. The start time for the game is 7:30 p.m.
~CSU~