Jan. 17, 2009
Contact: Brian McCann
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MILWAUKEE, Wisc. - The Vikings didn't lose at Milwaukee on Saturday night. They simply ran out of time.
Or, they waited too long to make their charge.
Trailing 73-54 with 4:51 to play, Cleveland State went on a furious run that could have ended in a win, or at worse, overtime, but Trevon Harmon's jumper with two seconds left was short, allowing Milwaukee to survive with a 77-75 victory over the Vikings.
"I didn't think that we played well enough for the first 35 minutes to win this game, but our passion and energy in the last five almost allowed us to steal one," CSU head coach Gary Waters said.
Norris Cole (21 points), J'Nathan Bullock (19) and Cedric Jackson (17) combined to score 57 points but it wasn't enough to overcome a 23 -point effort off the bench from James Eayrs or 20 points from Anthony Hill.
The Vikings seemed out of when Eayrs scored inside to give the Panthers a 19-poit advantage, their largest of the night.
But CSU came back with surgical precision.
In an 83-second span, Bullock connected on back-to-back treys from the top of the key, Cole buried one from deep in the left corner and Harmon did the same from the other side.
Suddenly, CSU trailed 73-66 with 3:06 to play.
Avery Smith ended the 12-0 run with a layup inside but Chris Moore scored inside off a nice baseline pass from Cole and, following a Moore steal on the ensuing possession, Cole fed the ball ahead to Bullock for a monster dunk that pulled CSU to within 75-70 with 1:35 to play.
Eayrs pushed the lead back to seven with a pair of free throws but Jackson answered with a three-pointer from the top of the key to make the margin just four (77-73, 1:02).
Jackson then turned in the play of the day as CSU pressed on the ensuing inbounds. Milwaukee was forced to call a timeout on their first attempt to avoid a five-second call and their second inbounds attempt was knocked away by Jackson underneath the basket. As it was going out of bounds, Jackson leaped, grabbed the ball and fed Cole in the lane for an easy layup with 57 second left that that pulled CSU to within 77-75.
Milwaukee had three attempts to score on their next possession but Deion James' layuo was off the mark and Smith's first tip rolled off the rim. Smith tipped it again, only to have it swatted away by George Tandy with Cole clearing the rebound with 24 seconds left.
Cleveland State played for the final shot but was unable to penetrate the lane and Harmon launched a 19-footer that could have tied the game but came up short. The rebound deflected off CSU and out of bounds with three-tenths of a second left.
"As poorly as we played during stretches in the game, we were able to regroup and make a run at the end," Waters said.
Jackson was superb in defeat for the Vikings, scoring 17 points on the heels of his 21 -point game at Green Bay on Thursday. He added seven rebounds and matched his season high with 10 assists and five steals.
Cole, who was just one-for-nine from the field in the loss at Green Bay, recorded his second career 20-point game by eight-for-12 from the field.
The loss drops the Vikings to 13-7 overall and into fifth place in the Horizon League with a 4-4 mark. Milwaukee improves to 12-6 overall and 7-1 in league play, a half-game behind Butler, which defeated UIC on Saturday to improve to 8-0.
"I said going into the season that the winner of this league would have four losses so we have put ourselves into a tough spot," Waters said. "We can't afford one more slip up."
The Vikings led just once in the game as Bullock and Moore connected on back-to-back jumpers to put CSU ahead, 4-2, with 18:42 left.
The Panthers then slowly pulled away.
After Jackson connected on a basket in the lane to pull CSU to within 10-8 with 15:45 left, UWM countered with baskets by Eayrs and Meier and three-pointers from Tone Boyle and Meier to take a 21-9 lead with 13:26 left.
As they did at Green Bay on Thursday night, the Vikings came back. Quickly.
Trailing 26-16 with 9:31 left, CSU ran off six straight points on a long trey by Montgomery and an old-fashioned basket and free throw from Bullock.
Eayrs answered with a basket inside, but a pair of driving layups by Cole and two free throws from Montgomery knotted the game at 28-28 with 4:27 left.
CSU could manage only a pair of free throws each from Montgomery and George Tandy down the stretch as Milwaukee opened up a 37-32 halftime edge.
The Panthers scored the first five points of the second half, two coming on an Anthony Hill jumper with Boyle following with a three-pointer, to take a 42-43 lead just one minute into the half.
The Vikings would close to within 44-38 at the 17:03 mark, but with Eayrs, a 6-7, 340-pound forward, proving difficult to defend, CSU fell back. He scored 16 of his points in the second half, including nine straight points that allowed the Panthers to take their largest lead at the five-minute mark.
Cleveland State returns to northeast Ohio, playing at Youngstown State on Friday, January 23 in a 9:00 p.m. game that will be televised on ESPNU.
