The Chicago State men's basketball team dropped an 80-63 decision to Grand Canyon University Thursday night at GCU Arena in Phoenix, Arizona in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams. Cougars freshman Ali Dibba made his collegiate debut and led the team in scoring with 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 8-of-11 from the free throw line. He also contributed seven rebounds. The conference tilt was the first for the Cougars since the 2019-20 season since CSU's season was cut short last year due to COVID.
Chicago State jumped out to an early lead on hoops by
Coreyoun Rushin,
Jahsean Corbett and Teddy Bayi Ba Mendeng for a 6-2 lead just two minutes into the game. The Antelopes countered with an 8-0 run to take its first lead, 10-6. Dibba broke into the scoring column from the free throw line to stop the run and the GCU lead was two, 10-8. GCU posted a quick 7-0 run to extend the lead to nine, 17-8, before Corbett and Dibba scores trimmed the lead to two, 17-15.
The teams exchanged baskets before two Dibba free throws knotted the score 23-23 with 5:27 remaining in the first half. Dibba then converted a put back off his own miss to put the Cougars up 25-23. Following a pair of GCU free throws, J.J. Harris made a layup and Chicago State led 27-25 with 4:05 left in the first half, but that lead would be their last. The Antelopes made three consecutive three-point field goals interrupted by a Dibba three, but another long-range conversion and a pair of free throws and GCU suddenly led by 10, 40-30. Chicago State closed the half scoring four of the final six points but trailed 42-34 at the half.
GCU opened the second half with a 13-4 run over the first 6:10 of the second half to push the lead to its largest of the game, 17 points, 55-38, with 13;50 remaining to play. The Cougars whittled the advantage down to 13 on two occasions, the last being 57-44 following a Rushin layup with 11:19 to go. The Antelopes countered with a 7-0 run and the lead would remain around 20 points for the remainder of the game.
Chicago State will wrap up its current five-game home stretch at WAC preseason favorite New Mexico State on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 at 5 p.m. The Aggies are 11-2 and the game will be their conference opener as they were scheduled to travel to Seattle Thursday but the game was postponed.
About Chicago State
Chicago State University Athletics is comprised of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994. Melvin Bland was the first CSU student-athlete to gain NAIA All-American status in 1974 as a wrestler. Fred Evans became the first black swimmer ever to win a national championship in 1975. CSU's women's basketball team earned a spot in the 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational and CSU's men's basketball team won the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament title and made an appearance in the CollegeInside.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Men's Outdoor Track & Field 4x100-Meter Relay team were 2019 Honorable Mention All-Americans and WAC Champions. Their feat marked the first time the Chicago State's men's track & field program was represented at the national meet. In 2021, three different CSU teams earned victories over Big Ten opponents with men's soccer beating Northwestern, women's basketball upending Wisconsin and volleyball, which established a school record 17 wins and hosted a post-season volleyball tournament for the first time in program history, swept Indiana in Bloomington.
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