Cougars Men's Basketball Open Gerald Gillion Era with a 77-72 Victory over St. Thomas

The Chicago State men's basketball team tipped off the Gerald Gillion era with a 77-72 win over the St. Thomas Tommies at the Jones Convocation Center Tuesday night, snapping a 28-game losing streak dating back to December 2019. It was the Cougars first action in nearly a year, last playing Dec. 20, 2020, in a nine-game, COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.

"For me, it's really big because it's our first win, my first win," Gillion said. "This is a really great moment, but now we have to focus on the next one. We were down by eight and and those guys just kept chipping away. Coreyoun Rushin did a great job of keeping the guys together, just leaning on them and fighting, and fighting and that's what I'm most proud of."

The Cougars Brandon Betson led all scorers with 22 points, converting four of six from beyond the three-point arc, while CSU had five scorers in double figures including Jahsean Corbett with 14, Coreyoun Rushin and Kedrick Green with 11, and J.J. Harris with 10.

The Cougars jumped out front early, converting a pair of three-point field goals, one by Jahsean Corbett and another by Kedrick Green sandwiched by a Tommies layup and CSU led 6-2 early. Brandon Betson extended Chicago State's lead with a jumper before St. Thomas went on a 10-2 run and gained it's first lead of the game, 12-10. At that point, CSU went on a run of its own, Betson, Dominique Alexander and Green made three pointers along with layups by Favour Chukwukelu and Jahsean Corbett and the Cougars lead was 11, 23-12. The teams exchanged baskets until it was 28-16 when the Cougars went on a five-minute scoring drought and St. Thomas clawed back with a 14-0 run to take a 30-28 lead. Betson scored the next five points for Chicago State and a Tommies layup ended the first half with the Cougars leading 33-32.

Corbett started the second half the same same way he started the game, nailing a three and Chicago State went on a 7-2 run following a St. Thomas three pointer and the Cougars led 42-37 with 16:42 remaining to play.  The two teams then combined to convert six of seven shots, three apiece, and CSU maintained its five-point advantage, 49-44. At that point, St. Thomas got hot from beyond the three-point arc, making three in a row to take a 53-51 lead with 11:18 left in the game. Chicago State tied the contest on a Coreyoun Rushin dunk at 53-53, then the Tommies scored five consecutive points, the exchanged buckets until a Betson three brought the Cougars to within one, 59-58, with 8:03 remaining. St. Thomas responded with a 7-0 run and the Tommies had its largest lead of the game, 66-58. The Cougars responded with a Corbett three and a pair of Kedrick Green free throws to cut the lead to three, 66-63. Following a Tommies three, the Cougars put together an 8-0 run, capped by a layup and free throw by Coreyoun Rushin to tie the game 69-69, and a J.J. Harris bucket for a Cougars 71-69 lead with 2:14 left to play. St. Thomas immediately responded with a three for a short-lived one-point lead, 72-71, but the Cougars put on the defensive clamps and scored the last six points of the game, four coming from the charity stripe and Chicago State earned the five-point victory.

The next action for the Cougars will be against the last team they previously defeated, SIUE, on Friday, November 12 at 7 p.m. at the Jones Convocation Center.