HOUSTON – Chicago State men's basketball continued its five-game road swing here tonight with a Great West Conference contest against Houston Baptist, but fell to the hosts at Sharp Gym by a score of 66-56. CSU saw its season record fall to 5-13 (0-2), while the Huskies improved to 2-12 (1-0) on the year.
HBU opened the first three and a half minutes of the game with an 8-2 scoring drive with five points coming from junior Andrew Gonzalez and ended with a Gonzalez three-pointer at the 16:06 mark. The Cougars responded with a 15-4 run over a five minute stretch behind seven points from freshman Victor Scott (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.) to gain a 15-12 advantage with 11:09 left in the half after junior Christian Wall (New Orleans, LA/John Ehret) (New Orleans, La.) hit a three-point basket. After HBU quickly outscored the visitors to even the score at 16, baskets from juniors Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Chicago, Ill.) and Antonio Lofton (Chicago, IL/Parkland College) (Chicago, Ill.) handed CSU a 20-16 lead at 7:59.
The Huskies then used a 9-2 run over four minutes to regain the lead at 25-22 thanks to six points from senior Mario Flaherty with 2:58 remaining in the half, but junior Damian Windham (Indianapolis, IN/Indian Hills CC) (Indianapolis, Ind.) evened the score at 25-25 at 1:48 on a conventional three-point play. HBU scored the final five points of the half, including a three-pointer from freshman Jamal Robertson with four seconds left, to claim a 30-25 advantage at intermission.
A 9-4 CSU run over the first two-plus minutes that included seven points from Lofton helped the visitors knot the score at 34-34 at 17:44 after Lofton drained a three-pointer. Flaherty and junior Fred Hinnekamp each scored six points as part of an 18-4 Huskie scoring drive over a 6:19 span to regain the lead at 54-40 with 8:50 remaining in the game. The Cougars came back with an 11-2 run that lasted 6:23 and sliced their deficit to 56-51 at the 2:37 mark after Lofton split a pair of free throws. Gonzalez keyed a 10-5 scoring run down the stretch with six points as the home team held on for the win.
“Tonight we found a way to lose it at the (free throw) line. We played hard and will get better,” said CSU head coach Benjy Taylor.
Lofton finished with 18 points on the night to lead Chicago State and Wall ended the game with nine points. Scott and Windham each scored seven points off the bench, while Montgomery added eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
Houston Baptist received double-double efforts from Gonzalez (21 points, 11 rebounds), Flaherty (19 points, 11 rebounds) and senior Wendell Preadom (10 points, 10 rebounds). Robertson added a game-high six assists and Flaherty recorded a game-high four blocks.
The Cougars head to Edinburg, Texas for a Saturday afternoon Great West Conference showdown against Texas-Pan American with the tip-off set for 4:30 p.m.
~CSU~
