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CHICAGO – Chicago State men's basketball dropped a non-conference contest to Eastern Illinois on Tuesday (Feb. 26) evening 58-50 at the Jones Convocation Center.
Jeremy Robinson (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower),
Quincy Ukaigwe (Matteson, Ill./Rich Central) and
Mashawn Chamberlain (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle) were honored as part of Senior Night festivities.
The Cougars struggled from the floor, shooting just 30.8 percent (16-of-52). However they stayed close with the Panthers by forcing 17 EIU turnovers.
“Defensively you can't ask for a better effort when you can hold a team to 58 points and force 17 turnovers, usually you're on the winning side of that,” Chicago State head coach
Tracy Dildy said. “But on the offensive end we just stunk. We made 16 shots for the game.”
EIU took a 27-22 lead to the locker room after scoring five points in the final 50 seconds of the first half.
The Cougars fell behind by seven points in the second half only to score eight straight and grab a 32-31 advantage with 14:42 to play. Four different Cougars scored in the stretch. It would be Chicago State's only lead of the second half as EIU scored the next four points to regain the lead.
Chicago State cut the deficit to two points at 48-46 with 3:03 remaining on a layup by
Nate Duhon (Lansing, Mich./Sexton). The Cougars wouldn't get any closer as back-to-back baskets by EIU's Alex Austin clinched the game.
Austin finished with 12 points. Malcolm Herron led EIU with 14 points. The Cougars were led offensively by Duhon. He scored 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting. His 18 points ties a career-high. He previously scored 18 at Oregon State on Dec. 16.
“I would have loved for the seniors to really go out with a win but they're going to get a chance to get play at home again since we're hosting conference tournament,” Dildy said.
Eastern Illinois improves to 10-20. Chicago State falls to 8-20.
The Cougars close the regular season with a pair of road Great West Conference games. First up is a visit to Utah Valley on Saturday (Match 2) at 7:05 MT.
