Former Dixon standout shines for Chicago State
Ross stands tall in loss
Despite Matt Ross' heroics, Chicago State fell 74-64 to DePaul on Wednesday night at Jones Convocation Center in Chicago.
Chicago State (2-8) got a second straight double-double from Ross, a former Dixon High School and Sauk Valley Community College standout, who finished with a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Teammate Quinton Pippen tallied 14 points.
Brandon Young scored 21 points and DePaul rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit. DePaul (5-3), which trailed 44-30 at halftime, opened the second half on a 15-2 run to cut Chicago State's lead to 46-45 as the Blue Demons held the Cougars without a field goal over the first 8:16 of the second half.
Cleveland Melvin posted a double-double for DePaul with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Worrel Clahar came off the bench to add 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds.
Northern Illinois 65, SIU-Edwardsville 54: Aksel Bolin scored 15 points to lead Northern Illinois in DeKalb.
Bolin was 7 of 10 from the field. Sam Mader scored 11 points, and Travon Baker had 10. Keith Gray had five rebounds for the Huskies (3-5).
SIU-Edwardsville had a brief lead early in the first half. Sam Nader scored on a jumper at the 12:12 mark, putting the Huskies up by one, and they would never trail again. At halftime, they were up 36-25. The Huskies made 22 points off turnovers. They shot 52 percent from the field for the game, while the Cougars shot 39.5 percent.
Jerome Jones led the Cougars (2-4) with 19 points. Kris Davis added 16. Derian Shaffer had seven rebounds.
The win broke a three-game losing streak for Northern Illinois.
Western Illinois 57, Eastern Illinois 45: Adam Link scored 15 points and Ceola Clark added 14 as Western Illinois defeated Eastern Illinois in Charleston.
Terrell Parks had 11 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots for the Leathernecks (6-3).
Malcolm Herron led the Panthers (3-7), with eight points, and three players added seven points each.
A 20-4 run during a second-half stretch of 9:58 gave Western Illinois control.
Parks had seven points and Jack Houpt keyed the rally. Eastern Illinois shot 2 for 8 from the floor and had five turnovers during the stretch, which gave the Leathernecks a 49-38 cushion with 2:30 remaining.
Houpt had nine points.
Western Kentucky 58, Southern Illinois 57: T.J. Price scored 17 points and Western Kentucky held on to defeat SouthernIllinois in Bowling Green, Ky.
The Hilltoppers (7-2) never trailed and led by as many as 10 points, 36-26, after starting the second half with a jumper by Jamal Crook.
Southern Illinois (4-2) cut the lead to one point four times in the final 5 minutes – twice on jumpers by Desmar Jackson – but could never quite catch up. Two free throws by Kevin Kaspar, a tip-in by O'Karo Akamune and a jumper by Crook helped keep the Salukis at bay.
After free throws by Jackson and Kendal Brown-Surles cut it to a point for the final time with 48 seconds remaining, Kaspar's missed free throw gave the Salukis the ball back, but Jackson missed with 10 seconds left and again at the buzzer.
Jackson led Southern Illinois with 22 points.
Ill.-Chicago 81, Roosevelt 43: Hayden Humes had 21 points to lead the Flames to victory in Chicago.
Humes, who was 5 of 6 from 3-point range and 8 for 9 overall, also had seven rebounds for the Flames (7-1), who have won six straight. He was joined in double-figure scoring by Daniel Barnes and Gary Talton, with 11 points apiece, and Ahman Fells who scored 10. Talton also had eight assists.
Jeremiah Jackson had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers. Roosevelt, a member of the NAIA, played this game as an exhibition.
UIC led 34-12 at halftime. The Flames were coming off a 50-44 win at Northwestern on Saturday.
