Box Score The 10th-seeded Chicago State men's basketball team wrapped up their 2021-22 season with a 69-47 loss to No. 7 Utah Valley tonight in the First Round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Cougars complete the season with a 7-25 overall record but served notice head coach
Gerald Gillion's program is one on the rise.
This year's Cougars team snapped a 28-game losing streak with a season-opening win over St. Thomas, which also marked Gillion's first victory as a collegiate head coach. CSU then defeated SIUE, marking the Cougars first two-game win streak over Division I opponents since the 2014-15 season then defeated Tennessee State at the JCC for its third-straight home win which last occurred during the 2018-19 season. This year's Cougars team also snapped a 24-game road losing streak with a mid-December win over IUPUI. Moving into conference play, the Cougars earned their first Western Athletic Conference victory since March 2018 (vs. UMKC, W 96-82) when the Cougars beat California Baptist 58-56 at home on Jan. 8 then followed up with a 67-56 win at Lamar, the first conference road victory since Jan. 12, 2017. Chicago State then clinched a spot in the WAC Tournament with a win over the top-seeded New Mexico State Aggies, which was the first over the Aggies since 2015, a span of 17 games. Finally, junior
Brandon Betson was named Second Team All-WAC, joining Quinton Pippen (2013-14) and Fred Sims, Jr. (2016-17) as the only Cougars players to be named to the conference's first or second teams.
The Cougars kept things close in the first half, exchanging leads before the Wolverines extended to six but Chicago State battled back to lead before a 6-0 Utah Valley at the end of the half gave the Wolverines a three-point halftime lead. The difference came at the start of the second half when CSU struggled from the field and converted only a pair of buckets in the first 11 minutes and UTU extended the margin to 22 during the drought.
Jahsean Corbett led Chicago State with 21 points and eight rebounds while
Brandon Betson was the only other Cougar in double figures with 12.
Noah Bigirumwami started the scoring for the Cougars. With the Wolverines defense collapsing on a driving
Brandon Betson, he kicked the ball out to Bigirumwami who hit the wide open three. Utah Valley's Aimaq Fardaws, who entered the first game against Chicago State among the nation's leaders in double-doubles, was limited in that regular season contest to 17 points and five rebounds, scored 10 points in the first 3:21 of the game and added three rebounds in the early going. Trailing 13-8,
Jahsean Corbett scored his first points of the game on a layup and converted a pair of free throws and the Wolverines lead was three, 15-12 at the 13-minute mark.
Utah Valley extended the lead to six on two occasions and led by eight with 8:32 remaining in the half when the Cougars methodically chipped away at the lead. J.J. Harris made a three and Corbett was responsible for a 5-2 CSU runt to cut the lead to four, 26-24. Betson then made one of two free throws and Teddy Bayi Ba Mendeng made a layup and the lead was just one, 26-25. Following a Fardaws miss on the offensive end, Corbett made a layup and Chicago State had a 27-26 lead with 4:04 to play, and extended the margin to three on another Corbett score. Utah Valley countered and finished the half on a 6-0 run to go into the locker room at halftime with a 32-29 lead.
The Wolverines opened the second half with a 14-3 run, stopped by a Corbett three and interrupted by a Betson pull-up three but the Cougars made just two of their first 18 second-half shots (11.1 percent) and watched Utah Valley pull away for the 22.-point win.
With the win, the Wolverines advance to play the No. 6 seed, Abilene Christian, on Wednesday, March 9 at 8:30 p.m PT at the Orleans Arena.
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.
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