MANHATTAN, Kan. – Chicago State men's basketball began a three-game road swing Monday night with a 99-68 loss to host Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats improved their season record to 11-3 with their seventh straight win, while the Cougars dropped to 8-8 on the year.
Sophomore Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Palos Heights, Ill.) gave the visitors an early 3-0 lead with a layup at the 18:33 mark before Kansas State notched a 30-5 scoring run over nine-plus minutes to post a 30-8 advantage at 9:08. The Cougars then closed their deficit to 49-31 at intermission by scoring 23 of the next 52 points in the final nine minutes behind eight points from senior guard John Cantrell (Pontiac, MI/Northern HS) (Pontiac, Mich.).
CSU opened the second half by tallying six of the first 10 points to pull within 53-37 at the 17:51 mark on a layup from senior Mike Wilson (New York, NY/Mt. San Jacinto CC) (New York, N.Y.), but the Wildcats pulled the game out of reach by scoring 28 of the next 51 points over a 10-plus minute stretch to increase their leading margin to 91-60 with 6:33 left in the game. CSU would get no closer than 29 points the rest of the way.
Senior David Holston (Pontiac, MI/Avondale HS) (Pontiac, Mich.) led five Chicago State players in double figures with 18 points and added five assists. Cantrell and Montgomery each notched 12 points with Cantrell going 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Wilson and sophomore Christian Wall (New Orleans, LA/John Ehret) (New Orleans, La.) each recorded 10 points and five rebounds for the Cougars.
Kansas State was led by sophomore Fred Brown's game-high 26 points on 8-of-17 shooting, while senior Darren Kent posted a double-double of 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Sophomore Jacob Pullen added 12 points; sophomore Ron Anderson notched 11 points and nine rebounds; and junior Buchi Awaji and redshirt freshman Jamar Samuels finished with 10 points apiece.
CSU continues its road swing in North Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 10 for its first-ever meeting versus North Carolina Central at the McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium in Raleigh with the tip-off set for 6:30 p.m.
~ CSU ~
