CHICAGO – Senior forward Carl Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Shepard) (Chicago, Ill.) produced his 1,000th-career point as the Chicago State men's basketball team slipped past visiting Concordia University Chicago by a score 79-75 in its season opener tonight at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center. The win also gave first-year head coach Tracy Dildy his first-ever collegiate coaching victory.
The home team recorded an early 11-0 lead in the game's opening four minutes before CUC scored six straight points with four coming from senior Larrell Gary to pull within 11-6 at the 14:37 mark. The CSU Cougars then scored a 12-2 run over a three-minute stretch to increase their leading margin to 23-8 following a jumper from junior Ardarius Simmons (Chicago, IL/Southeastern (IA) CC) (Chicago, Ill.) with 11:53 remaining in the half.
Montgomery later scored his 1,000th point on a rebound putback at the 11-minute mark becoming the seventh member of the school's Division I 1,000-point club and was honored at halftime. After CSU increased its lead to 33-17 with a three-pointer at the 5:25 mark, Concordia outscored the home team by a 17-9 margin in the final five minutes to slice their deficit to 42-34 entering halftime.
Concordia battled back in the second half by outscoring CSU in the first nine minutes with a 24-16 scoring drive that brought the score even at 58-58 with 11:21 remaining in regulation after junior Devin Pankey scored a layup. The Green and White later broke a 67-67 tie by scoring 12 of the final 20 points in the last five minutes with senior Christian Wall (New Orleans, LA/John Ehret) (New Orleans, La.) scoring nine points down the stretch for the win.
“I'm very excited about getting my first win in my first game as a head coach. I'm not happy with the way we got it because I saw some good things and bad (from tonight),” said Dildy following the game. “I have to give a lot of credit to Concordia, who were picked to win their conference and are a veteran team. You get that type of challenge against veteran teams. However, we are 1-0 and are tied for first place with other teams that also won tonight.”
Wall finished with 18 points. Montgomery posted a double-double of 16 rebounds and 13 points with three blocked shots.
Gary led four Concordia players in double figures with 17 points. Junior Charles Gordon added 15 points and a game-high five steals, while senior James Morgan posted a double-double of 11 rebounds and 10 points.
The Cougars head to Lincoln Park this Sunday afternoon to compete against DePaul at McGrath Arena with a start time of 5 p.m. The game will be shown on the Big East Network, which will be shown locally on WYIN-Ch. 56 for the Lakeshore Public Television.
~CSU~
