Box Score CSU shooters struggle in opening loss to Harris-Stowe
 
CHICAGO, Illinois – Opening the season at the HBCU Windy City Hardwood Classic on Saturday, the Marauders struggled to find their shooting stroke as Central State fell 64-47 to the Hornets of Harris-Stowe.

The Marauders appeared to be the more talented team during the first 8 minutes of the contest, leading 11-4 at the 12:47 mark of the 1^st half. Unfortunately for CSU shooters, the rims in the Kroc Center seemed to have an invisible lid for the rest of the evening. CSU managed just 2 points while surrendering a 17-2 run over the next 8 minutes to fall behind 21-13 and trailed the Hornets by 10 at the break.

Sophomore Jeremy Brown provided a spark early in the second half, hitting his first 3 shots to help narrow the gap to 33-29 with 16:39 to play. CSU continued to hang within striking distance of the Hornets until back-to-back three pointers by Hornet shooters Trevor Roberts and Evan Jones put Harris-Stowe back up by double digits with 9:28 remaining. Harris-Stowe used a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach as CSU found themselves down 62-43 with just 3:09 left on the clock. With a commanding lead, Harris-Stowe successfully worked on the clock on the way to a 64-47 victory.

As a team, CSU shot just 25% from the field and were 0 for 19 from beyond the arc. CSU also lost the battle of the boards, being outrebounded 58-41. The Hornets converted 21 second chance points to just 4 for the Marauders. To make matters worse, the CSU bench was outscored 25-2.

"I give credit to Coach Williams for having his players ready to play tonight and I am confident that they are going to have a great year under his leadership. As for us, we had a difficult time in multiple phases of the game," said CSU coach Joseph Price. "We can't afford to go 0 for 19 from the three point line, get rebounded and expect to win. Our bench was a non-factor tonight and we were unable to respond to Harris-Stowe's energy. We have a lot of work to do heading into Monday's game In Detroit."

Improving to 3-1 on the season, Harris-Stowe had balanced scoring as four players scored in double-figures. Starting big man Jalen Fletcher finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Dominic Fletcher added 12 points while Malik Wineglass scored 10 to go with 8 rebounds. Evan Jones led the Hornets' bench with 11 points in just 13 minutes of play.

Jeremy Brown and Tre' Edwards led the scoring for the Marauders with 12 points each. Despite the loss, Brown filled that stat sheet with 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Sterling Gilmore finished with 10 points. Hosie Smith Jr (5), Robert Konteh (4) and Tom Johnson (2) were the only other players to score for CSU, which fell to 0-1.

Central State travels to the Motor City on Monday to play the University of Detroit. ESPN 3 will provided coverage of the game starting at 7 pm.