Jan. 10, 2009
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Contact: Ryan Mulford
Cleveland , Ohio - On a blustery night in downtown Cleveland , senior Chris Moore was red hot having a career night with 18 points and three blocks in a 79-69 Viking win Saturday night in the Wolstein Center.
Moore led all scoring with 18 points, while Cedric Jackson led the way with 10 assists, while Josh McCoy added a career high nine points.
With the win, the Vikings improve to 13-5 overall, 4-2 in league play, while the UIC Flames drop to 8-7 overall and 1-4 in the league.
"Whenever we get a game like that out of Chris, we usually dominate the game," head coach Gary Waters said. "It gives us another presence inside and frees up the gaurds to let them play their game."
The Vikings took the lead thanks to a 14-3 run midway through the first half to open their lead to 10 at 23-13. During the run, Cleveland State scored on three fast break lay-ups and a fast break three-pointer from Josh McCoy.
The Vikings were able to pull away at the end of the first half thanks to phenomenal three point shooting from Josh McCoy who netted two in the final two minutes. Bullock added a pair of free throws giving the Vikings a 15 point lead at the end of one.
Cleveland State controlled the board at the end of one, grabbing 20 rebounds, while Chris Moore led the scoring attack with 10 first half points. Defensively, they forced the Flames to make seven turnovers leading to six points for the Vikings.
The Flames came out scorching early in the second half, putting a 14 point run together, to chip away the lead to within 11 at 49-38.
With the Flames threatening, the Vikings were able slowly pull away, with a trio of jumpers from Norris Cole, Jeremy Montgomery and Moore
Jackson knocked down four free-throws to stretch the Cleveland State lead to 14 at 65-52 with just over six minutes left in the game.
After a brief UIC rally narrowing the gap, Harmon was able to knock down his first three-pointer of the night and George Tandy followed that up with a lay-up of his own to give the Vikings a 12 point lead.
"I thought Norris and Chris did outstanding jobs guarding their players," Waters said. "Norris played 35 minutes and never got winded."
After UIC bounced back to pull within six points, Bullock was able to hit four free-throws to secure a Vikings 79-69 win.
The tandem of Trevon Harmon and Norris Cole gave an outstanding defensive performance on the night guarding Josh Mayo, the Flames leading scorer with 19.5 points per game coming into tonight. The pair held Mayo to just six points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field.
"Mayo is a great player," Waters said. "One guy can't stop him. You need an entire team to slow him down."
The Vikings shot 80-percent from the free throw line, including a perfect 7-for-7 in the first half.
"I am pleased with where we are at," Waters said. "The kids are playing good basketball and working hard on the defensive end and coming around offensively."
Viking defense continued their impressive ways, holding UIC to 38-percent from the field, becoming the 12 th Cleveland State opponent (in 18 games), and 11 th in the last 13, to shoot under 40-percent for the game.
The Flames were led by Tori Boyd who scored 15 points and five rebounds. Boyd was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
The Vikings will travel to Wisconsin for a pair of games next week, playing at Green Bay on Thursday (Jan. 15) and at Milwaukee on Saturday (Jan. 17). Both games will start at 8:00 p.m. and will be televised on SportsTime Ohio.
