HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Chicago State men's basketball closed its six-game swing on the road late Monday night with an 85-75 defeat at Hawai'i at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Rainbow Warriors hiked their season record to 5-3 with the win and the Cougars dropped to 3-6 on the year.
The home team opened the game with a 9-0 run in the opening three-plus minutes of the game behind five points from junior Roderick Flemings and later increased its lead to 11-3 on a jumper from junior Petras Balocka at 15:34. A jumper from senior John Cantrell (Pontiac, MI/Northern HS) (Pontiac, Mich.) at 15:24 helped CSU scored eight of the next 16 points over 5:02 to pull within 19-13 after a Cantrell free throw at 10:22. UH later tallied a 25-7 scoring run that lasted the rest of the half to capture its biggest advantage of the stanza at 44-20 before sophomore Nemanja Stankovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Toronto, ON/Vaughan Road HS) (Toronto, Ontario) nailed a jumper at the buzzer to send the Cougars into the half down by a score of 44-22.
CSU began the second half with an 8-3 scoring drive in the first two minutes of the second half to pull within 45-30 on a Cantrell dunk at 18:12, but the Rainbow Warriors would score nine of the next 11 points over a three-minute span to pump the lead back to 22 at 54-32 after sophomore Adhar Mayen connected on a three-pointer at the 15:14 mark. An 11-3 run in four minutes sliced CSU's deficit to 54-43 on a three from senior David Holston (Pontiac, MI/Avondale HS) (Pontiac, Mich.) at 11:14. After a Mayen jumper gave UH a 64-46 lead with 9:08 left in the game, the Cougars bounced back to score 22 of the next 37 points over seven minutes to close the lead to 77-68 which culminated with a Holston triple with 1:56 left in the game. The Rainbow Warriors finished the game by scoring eight of the final 15 points to provide the final margin.
Holston led all scorers with 28 points and drained six three-pointers while playing all 40 minutes of the game. Cantrell contributed 24 points and seven rebounds off the bench, while senior Tawrence Walton (Chicago, IL/Kennedy-King College) (Chicago, Ill.) added seven points and five boards and senior Mike Wilson (New York, NY/Mt. San Jacinto CC) (New York, N.Y.) notched six assists for Chicago State.
Balocka paced Hawai'i with a double-double of 21 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with six assists. Flemings posted 20 points and seven caroms, while junior Bill Amis added 14 points and seven boards. Sophomore Kareem Nitoto tallied a game-high eight assists and junior Paul Campbell recorded a game-high four blocked shots.
The Cougars return to Chicago for a two-game homestand later this week at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center beginning Wednesday against Southern at 7 p.m.
~ CSU ~
