The Cleveland State Cougars pulled off an upset on a cold afternoon in Chattanooga as the Cougars toppled the Tigers of Chattanooga State by a final count of 78-69. The Cougars won the battle of the big cats as they led from start to finish and in the process get a big Region VII Conference win.
 
The Lady Cougars led at halftime, but could not sustain the momentum in the women's contest as they fell to the powerful Lady Tigers by a final score of 76-58.
 
Nick Ross converted a three-point play and Kasheef Baker slammed home an offensive rebound as the Cougars jumped on top of the Tigers from the opening tip and led throughout the first half.  Ross hit two of his four treys in the first half on back to back trips down the court as the visitors took 20-14 lead midway through the half.
 
The biggest Tiger on the floor, 6'10 Byron Trench, controlled the paint and proceeded to pour in 19 points in the first 20 minutes to almost single-handedly keep his team afloat. In fact just about the only missed shot from Trench was a dunk attempt.
 
Travis Jones finished the half with a three-pointer and a pair of short, spinning, off-balance jumpers amongst the trees as he contributed 15 points on the way to a Cleveland State 38-31 lead at the break.
 
 The Cougars maintained their advantage and built on it in the early going of the second half. Jones and Ross nailed a 3-point bomb each and Baker continued his good work in the paint with an impressive offensive rebound for another bucket as the Cougar lead grew to double digits.
 
An offensive rebound from Gerard Gore and an incredible tip in from Gore on the next trip provided a spark the visitors would need as the clock dropped below eight minutes to go.
 
The Tigers would not go quietly on their home hardwood as Andrew Houts got hot and began to rain three-pointers as the Tigers cut the lead back to single digits with four minutes to play. \Houts had 14 of his 16 points in the second half as the Tigers made one last run. Trench converted a three-point play to cut the lead to only seven points, but the Cougars hit their free tosses down the stretch and secured the win and an even bigger upset. Ross fed Barry Griffin with a perfect pass for an alley-oop slam dunk just before the final buzzer to put the exclamation point on the day for the Cougars.
 
"This was such a big win for our team, you don't come to Chatanooga State and win very often because they are an extremely good team year in and year out," stated a very happy Cougar coach Lee Cigliano. "They were so big in the middle, but our guys hung in there and played tough and I couldn't be more proud of them. We shot the ball well and played great defense. It was a total team effort today and a big win for our guys."
 
Jones and Ross paved the way for the Cougars (11-11, 5-9) with 26 and 25 points respectively while Trench paced the Tigers (12-9. 7-7) with 26 points.
 
The Lady Cougars had the hot hand early and didn't let up as they played perhaps their best half of basketball. Cleveland State had the Lady Tigers back on their heels for much of the first 20 minutes.  Hannah Brown hit a trey from the corner and Shanavian Woodland added a pair of long range bombs to the cause to go along with two spinning shots in the paint as the Lady Cougars went on top 12-8.
 
Cleveland State went on a 10-2 run midway through the half to take their biggest lead at 30-20, but the Lady Tigers responded with a 10-0 run of their own to tie the game once again as Hidaayah Williams and TaQuasha O'Neal hit a 3-pointer each. The lead changed hands seven times in all in the first half ,but Augusta Smith provided a big lift for the Lady Cougars off the bench with two tough shots in the paint to finish the first half and give the visitors a 36-34 advantage at the break.
 
The Lady Tigers turned up the intensity level a couple of notches to start the second half as a very physical first half turned into a heavyweight boxing match in the second. A 17-5 Lady Tiger run gave the home team a 10 point lead and they never looked back.
 
April Woodard canned a pair of 3's and Williams did the same as the Chattanooga State lead grew rapidly. A three-point play by Woodard and a pair of tough buckets in the paint from Jasmaine Carey helped to put the game out of reach down the stretch as the Lady Tigers notched the big conference win.
 
Williams paced the Lady Tigers (17-4, 10-4) with 20 points while Carey and Woodard checked in with 17 each. Woodland led the Lady Cougars (9-14, 3-11) with 18 points while Morgan Rogers finished with 12.
 
Cleveland State will travel to Morristown on Wednesday night for a pair of conference games at Walters State starting at 6:00