CHICAGO (Dec. 10, 2009) – The Chicago State men's basketball team opened the 2009 Hoop TV Las Vegas Classic here tonight with a 74-39 loss to host Nebraska at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb. CSU saw its record drop to 3-4 on the year, while the Huskers improved their season ledger to 6-2.
The home team captured an early 11-1 advantage within the first five minutes of the game and later posted a 30-14 leading margin at halftime while holding CSU to shoot 18 percent from the field in the first half. The Cougars could get no closer in the second half despite holding advantages in steals (7-5) and offensive rebounds (23-11).
“I thought (Nebraska) played very hard, I thought they moved the ball well. I thought they had a sense of purpose out there. I didn't know they were that versatile. They can go small and those guys putting the ball on the floor really hurt us a little bit,” said CSU head coach Benjy Taylor at the post-game press conference. “We executed OK; I just can't understand why we can't make layups right now. We're just missing point-blank range shots and it's putting too much pressure on our defense.”
Chicago State was led by junior Damian Windham (Indianapolis, IN/Indian Hills CC) (Indianapolis, Ind.) with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, while junior Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Chicago, Ill.) added eight points. Junior Hajji Martin (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.) contributed two blocked shots and freshman Victor Scott (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.) posted two steals.
Junior Lance Jeter scored a game-high 13 points to lead Nebraska. Freshman Brian Diaz nearly tallied a double-double of his own as he produced a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with nine points, while sophomore Brandon Richardson and freshman Adrien Coleman each added 10 points for the Huskers.
The Cougars continue their weekend road swing with a trip out west to Hawai'i as they face the host Rainbow Warriors at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu with a start time of 11 p.m., central time.
~CSU~
