HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (Nov. 28, 2008) – Senior David Holston (Pontiac, MI/Avondale HS) (Pontiac, Mich.) recorded a double-double of 34 points and 10 assists with seven steals in leading Chicago State to a 79-64 victory over Bethune-Cookman this afternoon at the Chicago Invitational Challenge in the Sears Centre. The Cougars improved to 3-2 on the year and the Wildcats dropped to 1-4 this season.
CSU opened the game with a 17-4 scoring drive in the first six-plus minutes behind eight points from Holston. The Wildcats responded quickly by posting an 8-2 run over seven minutes to slice its deficit to 19-15 with 6:02 left in the stanza after a jumper from freshman Clifford Reed. A layup from sophomore Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Palos Heights, Ill.) opened a 21-7 run in the final minutes of the half as the Cougars entered the intermission ahead by a 40-21 margin that ended with a three-pointer at the buzzer by senior Mike Wilson (New York, NY/Mt. San Jacinto CC) (New York, N.Y.).
The Cougars posted a 15-3 run over a five-plus minute stretch to increase their leading margin to 55-24 after a Holston three at 14:40. Holston recorded 10 points during the run. Bethune-Cookman used 13 points from Reed as part of a 34-13 scoring drive which lasted nearly 10 minutes as it closed to within 69-58 at the 4:56 mark after a layup by Stanley Elliott. CSU finished the game by scoring 10 of the game's final 16 points in the final four minutes on balanced scoring for the final margin.
Cantrell contributed 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting with five assists for Chicago State, while Wilson finished with 11 points and four assists. Montgomery tallied nine points, six rebounds, five steals and four blocked shots.
Leading Bethune-Cookman was Reed with 23 points and five assists. Holmes tallied nine boards and Elliott recorded seven points.
Chicago State concludes tournament play on Saturday afternoon at the Sears Centre against Mercer with a start time of 1:30 p.m.
~ CSU ~
