CHICAGO – Chicago State men's basketball had four players scored in double figures, led by 22 points from senior David Holston (Pontiac, MI/Avondale HS) (Pontiac, Mich.) as it captured an 85-69 win over visiting NJIT Saturday night at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center. The Cougars, who concluded their season-long five-game homestand, improved their record to 12-11 while the Highlanders fell to 1-21 on the year.
The game's opening three minutes saw CSU open with an 11-4 lead as Holston scored nine points, all on three-pointers, during the run. NJIT battled back to score 18 of the next 28 points over seven minutes to capture its first lead of the contest at 22-21 following a triple by sophomore Jheryl Wilson at 13:45. A layup by sophomore Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Palos Heights, Ill.) at 8:14 sparked a 22-5 scoring drive in the final eight minutes, thanks to eight points from senior Mike Wilson (New York, NY/Mt. San Jacinto CC) (New York, N.Y), which sent the Cougars into intermission with a 43-27 leading margin.
CSU used a 16-9 scoring drive over the first six minutes of the second half with six points coming from Holston to post its biggest lead of the game at 59-36 at the 14:06 mark. A 13-2 run by the Highlanders in nearly three minutes with Wilkerson scoring six points to cut CSU's lead to 61-49 with 11:31 left in regulation. Senior John Cantrell (Pontiac, MI/Northern HS) (Pontiac, Mich.) tallied seven points as part of a 20-12 scoring drive over eight minutes which propelled the home team to an 81-61 lead with 3:27 let in the contest. NJIT would get no closer than 15 points for the rest of the game.
It's been a rough week for us, but our kids bounced back and played hard tonight. NJIT is a very good team. They shoot the ball well and they play hard. If couple of bounces went here and there, the game would have been tight, said CSU head coach Benjy Taylor. “We're happy to get our 12th win of the year and surpass our win total from last season. We're just trying to improve and get better. That's all we can do.”
Holston also added five rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Cantrell scored 19 points which included going 7-of-8 from the free throw line, and Montgomery finished with 18 points and four blocked shots on the night. Wilson recorded 11 points, four assists and three steals, while senior Tawrence Walton (Chicago, IL/Kennedy-King College) (Chicago, Ill.) posted a game-high 12 rebounds and a career-best five assists.
Wilkerson paced NJIT with 18 points and junior Gary Garris added 17 points to go along with four steals. Sophomore Justin Garris tallied 13 points, and Wilson produced 10 points with eight boards and five assists.
The Cougars open a four-game road trip on Wednesday, Feb. 4 with a Chicago-area showdown at Northwestern beginning at 7 p.m.
~ CSU ~
