The Seattle University men’s basketball team picked an opportune time for its first victory of the season after trailing at halftime, as Chicago State led by as many as 14 points before the Redhawks came roaring back in the second half to defeat the Cougars, 49-45, Thursday night in the first round of the 2015 Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Orleans Arena.
Down 33-23 at halftime, Seattle U opened the second half on a 12-4 scoring run, capped by five straight Redhawk points from Jack Crook (Manchester, England), to tie the game at 37-37. Chicago State scored eight unanswered points over the next seven minutes, including a three-pointer by Clarke Rosenberg, to regain its advantage at 45-37 with five minutes remaining in regulation.
Crook converted a traditional three-point play, and Isiah Umipig (Federal Way, Wash.), the conference’s leader in made three-pointers, hit his only long distance shot of the game to pull the Redhawks within two at the last media timeout. Jarell Flora (Bremerton, Wash.) was fouled and made both free throws to tie the game at 45-45 with 2:30 left in the second half.
On Chicago State’s next possession, Umipig stole the ball and was fouled going to the basket, making both free throws to give the Redhawks their first lead since the first basket seven seconds into the contest. The Cougars missed two shots and turned the ball over twice, and Emerson Murray (Vancouver, B.C.) hit two free throws with eight seconds remaining to close out the contest in Seattle U’s favor.
“I give a lot of credit to Chicago State for how they competed. They were aggressive in creating turnovers and getting us out of our rhythm,” Seattle U head coach Cameron Dollar said. “Thanks to our seniors, we did a fantastic job of steadying the ship and then play basic boring basketball: contesting shots, finishing with a rebound, hitting the extra man with a pass, and making our free throws.”
Umipig went 10-for-10 from the free throw line for the second time in his time at Seattle U as he led the Redhawks with 17 points, plus he grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists, and earned four steals. Crook finished with eight points and eight rebounds, Flora scored seven points, and William Powell (Huntsville, Ala.) contributed six points, seven rebounds, and two steals to the winning effort.
Chicago State (8-24) scored 11 unanswered points early in the first half and eventually extended its lead to 17-4 on back-to-back three-pointers by Jawad Adekoya and Anthony Glover. After a layup by Jadon Cohee (Langley, B.C.) closed the Redhawk deficit to nine, the Cougars scored five straight points, four of them on free throws by Adekoya, to take their biggest lead of the game at 27-13.
Umipig made eight straight free throws in the final three minutes of the first half to keep the Redhawks within striking distance, but Sean Hill made a jumper at the end of the half to give Chicago State the 10-point halftime lead. After hitting 43.5 percent of its field goal attempts in the first half, the Cougars were held to 20.8 percent field goal shooting after halftime, including 1-of-13 from behind the three-point line, as Seattle U set a WAC Tournament record for fewest points allowed in a single half with 12.
Adekoya scored 14 of his team-high 17 points in the first half, while Hill finished with nine points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. The Cougars did commit 16 turnovers, but they were able to score 15 points off 20 Redhawk turnovers.
As a team, Seattle U shot 42.9 percent (12-of-28) from the field, including 2-of-9 from behind the three-point line, and 67.6 percent (23-of-34) from the free throw line, hitting 10-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe in the second half. Seattle U won the rebounding battle, 30-26, as it picked up the program’s first Division I postseason victory since defeating Oregon State in the first round of the 1964 NCAA Tournament, 61-57.
Seattle University (15-14) will make its first appearance in the semifinals of the WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament Friday, March 13, against Missouri-Kansas City at approximately 8:30 p.m. UMKC defeated Texas-Pan American, 70-61, in its first round game Wednesday. The game will be streamed by the WAC Digital Network (www.wacsports.com/watch), and it will be broadcast live on 770 AM KTTH, as Dave Grosby and Gary Hill Jr. describe the action from courtside starting with the pregame show shortly before tipoff.