Chicago State finally broke through.

The Cougars, members of the Mid-Continent Conference since the 1994-95 season, advanced to the conference tournament championship game for the first time in school history.

Until two years ago, Chicago State had never even won a game in the conference tourney.

But Coach Kevin Jones and the Cougars shocked the rest of the league. As the No. 6 seed, they upset No. 3 UMKC 75-66 and came back one day later to knock off No. 2 IUPUI 57-53.

IUPUI was the first-place team in the conference all season, until Chicago State beat them in the next-to-last regular-season game.

So the Cougars finished the year on a hot streak, winning five of their final six conference games before cruising to the championship of the league tournament.

The Cougars have two of the league's most exciting but overlooked players in guards Royce Parran and David Holston. Jones, an ex-Marine, has brought some much-needed discipline to a program that lost 27 games in the 2002-03 season.

They created some momentum with the big finish to the season. And with a new gym set to be completed this year, there could be some excitement on the south Chicago campus next fall if things work out with a current NCAA investigation into the school's athletic department.

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