CHICAGO – Senior David Holston (Pontiac, MI/Avondale HS) (Pontiac, Mich.) recorded a game-high 19 points and five steals as Chicago State knocked off Samford, 66-49, Saturday night in its final home game of 2008 at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center. The Cougars improved their record to 5-6, while Bulldogs fell to 4-5 on the year.
CSU jumped out to a 7-0 leading margin in the first two minutes of the game that culminated with a layup from senior Tawrence Walton (Chicago, IL/Kennedy-King College) (Chicago, Ill.) at 17:54 and later increased its lead to 12-3 on a layup by sophomore Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Palos Heights, Ill.) at 16:44. Samford jumped back with nine straight points all on three-pointers, including two from sophomore Trey Montgomery, to even the score at 12-all with 14:11 left in the half.
A 16-5 run over 11:32, led by four points from senior John Cantrell (Pontiac, MI/Northern HS) (Pontiac, Mich.), gave the Cougars 28-17 lead with 2:04 remaining in the stanza. After the visitors pulled within 28-22 on another Montgomery three at the 51-second mark, Holston concluded the half with a three just 21 seconds later as CSU entered intermission with a 31-22 advantage.
The second half started with the Cougars scoring six of the first eight points in the opening 2:36 to hike their leading margin at 37-26 on a Holston layup at 17:14. The Bulldogs then recorded a 16-8 scoring drive which lasted 6:08 that sliced their deficit to just three points at 45-42 when freshman Jeffrey Merritt hit a three with 10:27 left in the game. Holston tallied nine points as part of a 21-6 run in the final 10 minutes that helped CSU pull away for the final margin.
In addition to Holston, CSU was also paced by Cantrell with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while Montgomery finished with game highs of 10 rebounds and four blocked shots to go along with nine points. Walton added nine rebounds, six points and four assists in addition to junior Marquis Young (Chicago, IL/Mineral Area College) (Chicago, Ill.) recording eight points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field.
Montgomery guided Samford with 12 points. Junior Bryan Friday contributed 11 points and freshman Matthew Friday posted seven boards off the bench, while sophomore Josh Bedwell and junior Jim Griffin, a Chicago native, each recorded three assists for the Bulldogs.
The Cougars hit the road Monday night for a contest against in-state rival Eastern Illinois at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill., beginning at 7 p.m.
~ CSU ~
