The Chicago State men's basketball team dropped a 66-52 decision to Illinois State Monday at Redbird Arena in Normal, Illinois. Illinois State came into the game having won the last 11 in a row in the series, and after trailing by 10 at the half, Chicago State looked to snap that streak, pulling to within in two with 10:27 to play but an 11-2 run and 7-0 run to finish the game led to a 14-point Redbirds victory.
Jahsean Corbett was Chicago State's leading scorer with 14 points while
Elijah Weaver was the only other CSU player in double figures with 10.
Deshawn Jean-Charles led the Cougars with nine rebounds, six on the offensive end while Wesley Cardet had five assists.
The Cougars will play one more time before Christmas, traveling to Minneapolis, Minnesota to face the University of Minnesota on Thursday, December 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Williams Arena. The Golden Gophers are 5-6 and will have eight days between games before facing the Cougars, last playing Arkansas Pine Bluff at home December 14, a 72-56 Minnesota victory. Chicago State and Minnesota have only faced each other three times, all in Minneapolis and all Gophers victories, the latest coming December 16, 2015 by a score of 70-52.
1st Half - Illinois State 33, Chicago State 23
Chicago State opened the scoring on a driving layup by
Elijah Weaver before a 9-0 Illinois State run put the Redbirds out front 9-2
Back-to-back buckets by Teshaundre Cole and a three by Weaver cut the lead to two, 9-7, at the 13:22 mark
The Redbirds went up by six, 15-9, at the end of a 6-2 run
A pair of Wesley Cardet free throws trimmed the lead to four, 15-11, with 10:15 left in the half
Both teams heated up, trading baskets but the Redbirds made three threes and the Cougars two twos for a 9-4 run and a 24-15 ISU lead
Bryce Johnson hit a three for the Cougars to trim the lead to six, 24-18, at the 6:59 mark
A 6-2 ISU run and the lead was back to 10 before Cardet converted an 'and 1' for CSU to cut the lead to seven, 30-23
The Redbirds made a three with 1:18 for the last points of the half and ISU went into the locker room at halftime leading 33-23
2nd Half - Illinois State 33, Chicago State 29
The Cougars scored the first five points of the second half on a Weaver three and Corbett layup to cut the halftime lead in half with 17:02 left to play in regulation
The Redbirds made a three before a 6-0 Cougars run on back-to-back baskets by
Deshawn Jean-Charles and capped by a Weaver jumper and the ISU lead was just two, 36-34, at the 14:33 mark
ISU responded with a 5-0 run to go back up seven, 41-34
Corbett scored, followed by a Jean-Charles hoop and free throw and the lead was just two again, 41-39, at the 10:27 mark
The Redbirds answered again, again with a 5-0 run to go up eight, 47-39
Teshaundre Cole converted a layup with 8:16 remaining to play, but the Cougars had a scoring drought of over three minutes and the Illinois State lead went up to 11 before
Bryce Johnson converted a pair of free throws to make it 52-43 with 5:21 remaining
ISU responded with a three which led to a 7-2 run and the lead was 14, 59-45, at the 3:48 mark
The Cougars scored the next seven points to cut the lead in half, making it 59-52 with just over a minute to play (1:04)
Illinois State would score the game's final seven points to win by 14, 66-52
Illinois State 66, Chicago State 52
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. In 1991, the Chicago State women's tennis team became the first all-black college team to amass an unbeaten season at the NCAA level. 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, also making 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. Chicago State volleyball recorded a historic season in 2021, with Yanlis Feliz becoming CSU's first volleyball All-American and head coach Tony Trifonov earning selection as WAC Coach of the Year. During that same season, 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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