CHICAGO – Chicago State men's basketball made school history as it battled visiting Utah Valley through four overtimes Thursday night at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center before the Wolverines captured a 123-121 win. The Cougars saw their record fall to 11-11 and UVU improved to 11-8 on the year.
CSU posted an early 13-3 lead in the opening 4:12 of the game with senior guard David Holston (Pontiac, MI/Avondale HS) (Pontiac, Mich.) scoring five points and sophomore Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Palos Heights, Ill.) tallying four points during the run. The visitors bounced back with a 19-9 scoring drive behind senior Ryan Toolson's seven points over a nine-plus minute stretch to tie the game at 22-22 at the 6:39 mark following a three-pointer by junior Jourdain Scoubes, but the Cougars scored five straight points to regain the lead at 27-22 at 4:32.
Toolson outscored the home team by a 9-1 margin to give UVU a slim 29-28 lead following a pair of free throws with 2:37 left in the stanza. Both teams battled through three ties over two minutes before Holston hit a three to give CSU a 36-34 advantage at the 33-second mark before junior Tyray Petty split a pair of free throws at 16 seconds to send the home team into the half ahead 36-34.
An 18-6 run in a near seven-minute span thanks to 13 points from Toolson helped the Wolverines turn a 45-45 tie into a 63-51 lead at 8:47. The Cougars began roaring back from their deficit with Holston leading the way as he scored 13 points during a 28-16 scoring drive in the final eight minutes of regulation to tie the game at 79-all at the 24 second-mark after a Holston jumper to send the game into overtime.
Both teams continued to thrill the estimated crowd of 1,264 in attendance as they each scored 12 points in the first OT session, 13 points in the second extra frame and 10 points in the third overtime period. The game looked to be headed into an unbelievable fifth overtime as both squads were tied at 121 entering the final seconds of the fourth overtime before Toolson scored the game-winning basket on a goaltending call with 2.3 seconds left.
“Utah Valley has done a good job of having a winning attitude and playing hard, and that is what they did to execute down the stretch. We got off to an early start and had different matchups on (Ryan) Toolson,” second-year head coach Benjy Taylor said after the game. “I thought we did a good job early to where he took a couple of bad shots and had a couple of turnovers, but he exploded on us (offensively).
Holston led CSU with a season-best 41 points in addition to posting five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Senior John Cantrell (Pontiac, MI/Northern HS) recorded a career-high 40 points, including 26 in the extra sessions, in 55 minutes played, while senior Tawrence Walton (Chicago, IL/Kennedy-King College) grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds for the Cougars. In his first-ever collegiate start, freshman Kabangu Tshinga Kasamba (St. Catherine's, ONT/St. Francis) (St. Catherine, Ontario) tallied his first double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
“We could have quit a lot of times tonight because they had the game won at regulation. We just did a helluva job fighting back and going to four overtimes especially with Dave fouling out after the first overtime. J.C. really stepped up tonight and showed that he is a big time player for us,” Taylor added.
Toolson led all scorers as he finished with 63 points that included going 20-of-21 from the free throw line and added 12 boards for a double-double. Petty finished with 15 points on the night, while junior Jordan Swarbrick added 13 points and Scoubes posted 12 points.
CSU concludes its homestand on Saturday night against NJIT with the tip-off set for 7 p.m.
~ CSU ~
