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HOUSTON – Chicago State led by as many as eight points in the final five minutes of regulation on Wednesday (Dec. 19) evening before Rice forced overtime and eventually won 63-60 over the Cougars in a non-conference contest at the Tudor Fieldhouse.
“Same problems again tonight with too many turnovers,” Chicago State head coach
Tracy Dildy said. “We have to learn to value the ball and having 10 combined turnovers from our post guys makes it hard to win.”
Three Cougars finished in double-digits. Senior
Jeremy Robinson (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower/Iowa Western CC) scored 15 points with eight rebounds. Junior
Jamere Dismukes (Park Forest, Ill./Rich East) (Park Forest, Ill./Rich East/BlackHawk College) tallied 12 points and junior
Nate Duhon (Lansing, Mich./Sexton) (Lansing, Mich./Sexton/Lansing CC) added 10 points.
A pair of Duhon free throws at 4:46 gave Chicago State their largest lead of the game at 51-43. Then Rice's Tamir Jackson went to work. He scored his club's final 14 points in regulation to help force overtime. Jackson converted a layup with 46 seconds remaining to put the Owls up 55-53. Chicago State went to Robinson on the other end and he drained a jumper with 32 seconds left to knot it at 55. The Owls called for time to set up a shot for the victory, but Jackson's jumper and Seth Gearhart's put back attempt were unsuccessful.
In overtime, it went back-and-forth until Jackson's layup with 2:07 put Rice up 59-58. It was a 61-58 score with less than 20 seconds remaining when the Cougars went for a quick two instead of the three. It worked, as Robinson converted a layup with 10 seconds left. Gearhart held serve for Rice on the other end by draining two free throws. Needing a 3-pointer to tie, junior
Quinton Pippen (Hamburg, Ark./Hamburg)'s (Hamburg, Ark. amburg/Missouri State-West Plains CC) attempt with two seconds was no good. His shot came after Rice intentionally used their sixth foul with three seconds remaining.
Rice' Jackson finished with a game-high 22 points, all coming after halftime.
The Cougars held a 47-23 rebounding edge. They used a 20-4 offensive rebounding advantage to lead 14-0 in second chance points. Neither team shot the ball particularly well, Rice finished at 40 percent (20-of-50) and Chicago State at 41 percent (25-of-61), but the Owls made up for their offensive rebounding woes by converting 14-of-18 free throws compared to Chicago State's 7-of-10.
The Cougars trailed only 26-25 at the break thanks to a 13-5 run to close the half. In the second half, the Cougars were able to open up a lead thanks in part to junior
Matt Ross (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) (Dixon, Ill./Dixon/Sauk Valley CC). He scored all of his eight points in the second. He also added a game-high 13 rebounds.
It was Chicago State's first overtime game since a 98-95 victory over Houston Baptist on Jan. 21, 2012 at the Jones Convocation Center.
Rice improves to 3-7 while Chicago State falls to 3-10.
“We'll refocus and get ready for Houston on Saturday,” Dildy said. “Vacation starts for the guys after the game so I hope they aren't on vacation yet because we'll need to take care of the ball against a good Houston team.”
Tip at Houston is set for 3 p.m. CT.
