Jan. 12, 2008

Box Score

CHICAGO - Ryan Toolson scored over 30 points in his second consecutive game but Chicago State proved to be too much as the Cougars beat Utah Valley, 85-76 Saturday afternoon.

Toolson scored a team-high 33 points on 11-for-13 shooting from the field, 6-for-6 from behind the three-point line and 5-for-5 from the foul line. Richard Troyer added 16 points and 11 rebounds. David Holston led Chicago State with 28 points and nine assists.

"Ryan (Toolson) was phenomenal offensively for us today," UV head coach Dick Hunsaker said. "Richard (Troyer) and Kevin Woods gave us inspired play. But it wasn't enough to shut down an inspired Chicago State team that hurt us in a number of ways. Credit Chicago State, they played a great game."

After UV jumped to a 4-0 lead in the early moments of the game, Chicago State came back with a 13-4 run, capped by a put-back by Chidozie Chukwumah to give the Cougars a 13-8 lead. The Wolverines came right back with a three-pointer by Josh Olsen and a three-point play by Toolson to re-take the lead, 14-13 with 13:35 remaining.

With the Wolverines behind 33-26, they went on a 10-0 run as four separate players to take a 36-33 lead with 4:30. The Cougars responded with their own 10-0 spurt over the next three minutes to take a 43-36 advantage with 1:21 left in the half. CSU scored the final basket of the half to take a nine-point advantage to the break as UV didn't score over the final 4:30 of the period.

Toolson led all scorers with 16 points at the break, while Mike Wilson scored 14 for the Cougars.

Utah Valley came out of the halftime break with energy as Troyer three tip-ins on the offensive glass early in the second half as the Wolverines cut the lead to 50-46 with 15:45 left in the game. CSU built its first double-digit lead of the game on the heels of a 9-2 run capped by a John Cantrell three to go ahead 59-48 with 13:51 remaining.

Chicago State had an answer for each UV run during the middle of the second half as the Cougars maintained a double-digit lead throughout the period. The Cougars held a 77-67 advantage with 3:23 remaining in the game. The Wolverines cut the lead to six at 80-74 with a Toolson three with 1:21 left but CSU made its free throws down the stretch to hold off UV.

Utah Valley will now travel to Lafayette, La., to take on the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns of the Sun Belt Conference on Tuesday evening. Game time is slated for 6 p.m. (MT)