CHICAGO – Chicago State men's basketball kicked off a month-long road swing facing host DePaul in an inter-city battle at McGrath Arena where the host Blue Demons posted a 114-81 victory. The Blue Demons improve to 1-0, while the Cougars drop their season record to 1-1.
DePaul jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the opening 1:22 of the game with four points coming from junior Krys Faber before CSU used an 11-4 run over a two-plus minute span to slice its deficit to 11-9 at the 16:30 mark after a layup from senior Hajji Martin (Chicago, IL/Morgan Park) (Chicago, Ill.). The Blue Demons later used a 31-13 scoring drive in eight minutes, led by seven points from junior Jeremiah Kelly, to hike its leading margin to 42-22 with 8:27 left in the stanza.
The Cougars scored 23 of the next 40 points in the final eight minutes with juniors Jamill Harris (Chicago, IL/Truman College) (Chicago, Ill.) and Jonathon Montgomery (Chicago, IL/Northern Iowa) (Chicago, Ill.) combining for 14 of those points to close within 59-45 heading into intermission. The home team opened the second half by scoring 35 of the next 64 points over the first 13 minutes hike its lead to 94-64 with 7:09 left in the game. CSU could get no closer the rest of the way.
Senior Christian Wall (New Orleans, LA/John Ehret) (New Orleans, La.) led Chicago State with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and added a game-high four steals. Martin and Montgomery each contributed 14 points and six rebounds, while senior Antonio Lofton (Chicago, IL/Parkland College) (Chicago, Ill.) recorded 13 points.
Sophomore Tony Freeland tallied a game-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting to lead five DePaul players in double figures. Senior Mike Stovall and freshman Cleveland Melvin added 19 points, respectively, and junior Jeremiah Kelly produced 12 points and four steals. Freshman Brandon Young posted 11 points and a game-high five assists, while senior Jimmy Drew recorded game high honors with eight rebounds.
CSU continues its road swing this Wednesday with a second battle against a Big East Conference school as it faces Notre Dame at the Joyce Center with a start time of 6 p.m.
~CSU~
