The Chicago State men's basketball team dropped an 85-63 to UTRGV Thursday night at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg, Texas. The Cougars were looking for their second consecutive conference win but with loss drop to 5-13 overall and 1-4 in conference play while UTRGV improves to 6-11 and 1-4.
Chicago State had four players in double figures led by
Dominique Alexander with 15, followed by
Coreyoun Rushin with 13 and
Bryce Johnson and
Favour Chukwukelu with 11 each. Alexander scored eight of his nine points from the free throw line and had made 24 consecutive prior to missing his last attempt of the game,
UTRGV jumped out to a 4-0 lead and the Cougars countered with a 7-0 run on hoops by Betson, Rushin and a Chukwukelu three for a 7-4 lead. The Vaqueros regained the lead before Chukwukelu hit from beyond the three-point arc again and, following a Rushin dunk, made his third, scoring nine of the Cougars first 15 points and CSU led 15-11 with 11:41 remaining in the first half.
Former Cougars standout
Xavier Johnson, now playing for UTRGV, was fouled attempting a three pointer and converted them all to help the Vaqueros pull within one, 15-14. Johnson finished with 16 for UTRGV. At that point, the teams exchanged baskets before UTRGV eventually extended their lead to eight, 31-23 with 3:46 remaining in the first half.
Bryce Johnson converted a three to bring CSU within five, 31-26, before UTRGV scored onback-to-back trips to push the lead to nine, 35-26. Following a Rushin layup and free throw, Johnson hit a three for UTRGV and the Vaqueros had their largest lead, 40-29, with 90 seconds remaining until half. Chicago State scored five straight to close the half and trailed 40-34 going into the locker room at halftime.
UTRGV opened the second half with a 10-0 run and the Cougars were held scoreless for over the first five minutes and trailed by 16, 50-34 before Alexander snapped the streak with 14:53 remaining to play in the game, leaving the Cougars to play catch up. UTRGV extended the lead to 19, 72-53, at the 8:45 mark. The Cougars were held scoreless for over four minutes and trailed by 22 following an Alexander free throw, which was their eventual winning margin as UTRGV prevailed 85-63.
The Cougars will complete the two-game Texas road trip at Lamar at the Montagne Center in Beaumont, Texas on Saturday, Jan. 15 at 3 p.m. The Cardinals are currently 2-13 overall and 0-4 in the WAC with their two wins coming at home.
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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