Northern Colorado men’s basketball beats Chicago State in overtime at Cancun Challenge
The Northern Colorado men’s basketball team played its second close game in four days Tuesday, coming out with 78-77 overtime against Chicago State at the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico.
The Bears (3-2) outscored the Cougars 8-7 in overtime and graduate student Riley Abercrombie hit the game-winning bucket with 42 seconds left. UNC will play Radford at 1 p.m. Wednesday for the Mayan Division title in the eight-team event.
Zach Bloch made two 3-pointers in OT for the Bears, who jumped out to a 73-70 lead 15 seconds into the five-minute extra session. Bloch hit his second OT 3 with 3:01 to play to give UNC a 76-72 lead. He finished with eight points off the bench.
Chicago State (1-5) took a 77-76 lead with 1:48 to play in OT on a jumper by guard Wesley Cardet. Cardet led the Cougars in scoring with 24 points.
Abercrombie won the game on a jumper in the paint following a couple of missed shots by Chicago State and a defensive rebound by Connor Creech.
Dejour Reaves and Saint Thomas led UNC in scoring against Chicago State with 24 and 22 points, respectively. Abercrombie had 12 points and seven rebounds. Thomas also had 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double in five games.
New Mexico State defeated UNC 76-71 Saturday in Las Cruces as one of four games played in the U.S. before the teams arrived at the Cancun Challenge. New Mexico State was playing Fresno State on Tuesday evening in the Rivera Division of the challenge.
Chicago State outscored UNC 45-34 in the second half Tuesday to force overtime. The Bears led 36-25 at halftime. UNC turned the ball over 20 times against the Cougars. Chicago State had 17 turnovers.
Northern Colorado 78, Chicago State 77
Northern Colorado: Dejour Reaves 9-20 4-5 24, Saint Thomas 10-17 0-0 22, Riley Abercrombie 5-10 0-0 12, Brock Wisne 2-9 4-4 8, Langston Reynolds 1-2 0-0 2, Zach Bloch 3-5 0-1 8, Connor Creech 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 31-66 8-10 78.
Chicago State: Wesley Cardet 9-15, 4-6 24, Jahsean Corbett 4-10 2-4 12, Deshawn Jean-Charles 4-8 2-2 11, Brent Davis 2-7 2-4 6, A.J. Neal 2-3 0-0 5, Kedrick Green 4-5 1-1 10, Noble Crawford 2-5 1-2 5, Cameron Jernigan 2-4 0-0 4. Totals: 29-57 12-19 77.
