Shawn Bell said he ”had a mission” to perform Saturday night. He also said he ”had a feeling . . . it was just in my blood to go for it.”
The feeling helped the mission. Firing from long range, Bell scored a career-high 29 points and triggered Chicago State`s 96-81 victory over Illinois-Chicago in their crosstown shootout for bragging rights at the UIC Pavilion.
The fiercely fought game produced 50 fouls, 67 free throws and injuries to three UIC starters: 6-foot-6-inch forward Dick Knarr and 5-9 guards Willie Jett and Bobby Locke.
Jett, who scored 11 points, returned after going out with reinjured ribs. Locke, who scored 13, also came back after leaving with a reinjured ankle.
Knarr, however, was wheeled from the court on a stretcher and hospitalized with a painful hip pointer.
”It was a very sad feeling for me when Dick went down,” said Flames`
coach Willie Little.
”Dick Knarr has never been 100 percent healthy. He plays hurt. So I questioned whether I should have put him out there at all.”
The game was played in three stages. First, Jett and Locke ignited the Flames to a 17-8 lead while UIC`s defense packed in tight against 7-foot Laurent Crawford and 6-9, 240-pound Darrin Guest.
Then, taking advantage of the UIC defense, Bell and Fred Shepard popped in five three-point baskets between them and sparked the Cougars to a 40-35 halftime lead.
Finally, when the injuries struck and the Flames tired, Chicago State`s big inside players took control of the game and the Cougars overcame their tendency to commit fouls that resulted in 39 UIC free throws.
Bell is a San Diego native who said he enrolled at Chicago State because
”my high school coach, Ron Davis, had lots of connections and knew that Chicago State was going into Division I.”
The 6-7, 205-pounder played center and power forward his first two years. Now he`s playing his natural position of small forward, with the arrival of Crawford and Guest.
Crawford, a transfer from Texas-El Paso, scored 12 points, 7 in the final 10 minutes. Guest, a Thornton High grad and transfer from Auburn who just regained his eligibility, had 9 rebounds and 8 points in his college debut.
”They packed in their defense real tight against Laurent and Darrin early in the game,” said Bell. ”That gave us a lot of shots from the outside.”
Bell and Shepard (17 points) made five of their six three-point shots in a first-half surge that brought the Cougars from behind and gave them the lead for good.
”We just wore them down,” said Cougar coach Bob Hallberg. ”When they got tired, they couldn`t double- and triple-team Crawford and Guest anymore. And they had to come out and guard us after we hit the three-point shots.”
Hallberg sees Guest and Crawford helping Bell have more big scoring nights.
”Bell is capable of doing this all the time,” Hallberg said. ”This was his best game because it was his sixth. He`s getting settled down.”
”We just ran out of people,” said Little.
Each coach had an explanation for the excessive fouling:
”Maybe we tried too hard because of the rivalry thing,” said Little.
”We teach aggressive play,” said Hallberg, ”but we have the habit of committing too many fouls. That makes for long games. We`re like the White Sox.”
Saturday`s game took 2 hours and 15 minutes.
