BOX SCORE

Final Score: Tennessee State 80, Chicago State 74
Records: Tennessee State 5-3, Chicago State 4-6
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Venue: Gentry Center
Attendance: 594

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee State men's basketball team continued its streak of victories in the Gentry Center with a 80-74 win over Chicago State Friday afternoon.

In its return home after an eleven-day road swing, the Tigers stole the first half of the afternoon as Jackson, Mississippi native Wesley Harris shot 5-of-7 from the field, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and made both free throws while also grabbing six rebounds.

Cougar point guard Xavier Johnson led the game in scoring with 34 points, proving to be the force behind Chicago State's offense, making 7-of the-13 team three-point shots. CSU outscored TSU 48-44 in the second half, but the Tigers' first half dominance held the Cougars off as Tennessee State floated to its sixth win of the season.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• TSU Leaders
  • Points: Wesley Harris - 27
  • Rebounds: Wesley Harris - 8
  • Assists: Mark Freeman - 6
  • Steals: Mark Freeman - 3
  • Blocks: Jy'lan Washington – 2
• Wesley Harris led the Tiger offense for the third time this season, scoring a career-high 27 points.
• Harris also led the Tigers with eight rebounds, marking the fourth time the graduate transfer grabbed a team-high boards for Tennessee State.
• Three other Tigers dropped double-digit points: Jy'lan Washington 14, Shakem Johnson 12 and Carlos Marshall 11.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Carlos Marshall, Jr. pulled up from the top of the key for the first shot almost three minutes into the game.
• Scoreless for three and a half minutes of the first half, Xavier Johnson hit a jumper to put Chicago State on the board.
• Wesley Harris hit back-to-back shots – a dunk and a field goal from beyond the arc to improve TSU's lead on CSU, 11-5.
• Three dunks assisted by Mark Freeman broken up by a Harris three-point shot, gave the Tigers momentum and a pumped up crowd moving into the last seven minutes of the first period.
• Sharing the ball has been no issue for the Tigers as shown by a Jy'lan Washington pass to Marshall in the corner, who drove towards the basket just to dish it to Washington for the layup.
• Freeman facilitated the Tiger offense notching five assists in the first half.
• CSU closed out the half with four free throws by Ke'Sean Davis.
• The Tigers led the Cougars 36-26 going into the locker room.
• Michael Littlejohn hit the first shot of the second half, putting his first points on the board this afternoon.
• Washington pulled up for a three, missed, Marshall, Jr. fought on the floor for the rebound, dished to Shakem Johnson for the sixth TSU dunk of the game.
• Xavier Johnson made all nine points for the Cougars in the first five minutes of the second half.
• Chicago State outscored the Tigers 17-14 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
• The Cougars' accuracy from beyond the arc improved to 71 percent, 5-of-7.
• Harris continued his offensive prowess with a three-point play to increase Big Blue's lead, 63-56.
• Johnson continued to make shots for Chicago State decreasing Tennessee State's lead to just two with three minutes left in the game.
• A combination of Harris, Washington and Freeman free throws kept the Tigers in the game, as TSU improved to 6-3 on the season with the win over CSU.

GAME NOTES

• This marks the first meeting with Chicago State since 1990.
• Tennessee State now leads the all-time series versus Chicago State 2-1.
• Brian "Penny" Collins and the Tigers are now 6-3 on the season.
• Collins and the coaching staff recognized former Tiger Daniel Cummings, who played two seasons for Tennessee State, as the Toronto native will graduate with his bachelor's in tomorrow's commencement ceremony.
• Technical fouls: Chicago State - Isaiah Lewis, Andrew Lewis(x2) and Tennessee State - Michael Littlejohn

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