Chicago State-Hawai'i Box Score
HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Chicago State men's basketball closed out a three-game road swing here Saturday night with an 83-58 defeat at the hands of host Hawai'i at the Stan Sheriff Center despite getting a game-high 20 points from junior Christian Wall (New Orleans, LA/John Ehret) (New Orleans, La.). The Cougars fell to 3-5 on the season, while the Rainbow Warriors improve their record to 5-4.
The visitors took an early 17-12 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game with six points coming from junior Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Chicago, Ill.), including the final basket of the run at 11:30. UH scored four quick points in two minutes on a free throw by junior Hiram Thompson and a three-pointer from junior Jeremy Lay to slice its deficit to 17-16 with 9:26 remaining in the half, but senior Marquis Young (Chicago, IL/Mineral Area College)'s (Chicago, Ill.) conventional three-point play at 9:11 hiked the Cougars' leading margin back to 20-16.
A 10-1 scoring run by the Rainbow Warriors over a seven-minute stretch to capture a 26-21 lead at the 2:37 mark before Wall scored five straight points in over a minute to tie the score at 26-26. Senior Petras Balocka recorded four points as UH tallied the final seven points down the stretch to enter halftime with a 33-26.
CSU started the second half with baskets from Montgomery and junior Damian Windham (Indianapolis, IN/Indian Hills CC) (Indianapolis, Ind.) to close within 33-30 with 18:47 left in the game. The Rainbow Warriors posted a 31-6 run in a span of 11:44 thanks to 12 points from senior Roderick Flemings to hike their advantage to 64-36 at the 7:03 mark. The Cougars could not get any closer than 25 points for the remainder of the game.
“We played hard for 40 minutes and rebounded well against a bigger team like Hawai'i, but the biggest difference for us was at the free throw line. We will take a lot of positive from this game that we can use down the road this season,” CSU head coach Benjy Taylor said after the game.
Montgomery added a double-double of 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for Chicago State, while Windham scored 11 points and dished out three assists. Young posted eight rebounds, five points and two blocks for the Cougars.
Flemings paced Hawai'i with 18 points in 32 minutes off the bench. Junior Dwain Williams contributed 15 points and Balocka notched 12 points with eight rebounds. Junior Adhar Mayhen also scored 12 points, while Thompson recorded game highs of nine assists and three steals.
The Cougars are back in action on Thursday with their long-awaited return to the Jacoby Dickens Center as they battle NAIA foe Olivet Nazarene beginning at 7:30 p.m.
~CSU~
