Feb. 8, 2001
CLEVELAND - Cleveland State jumped out to a 38-20 halftime lead over Wright State and then cruised to a 77-60 victory over the Raiders at Goodman Arena Thursday night to maintain first place in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference race.
Back-to-back alley-oop dunks by Tahric Gosley from Jermaine Robinson at 10:42 and 10:09 started a 21-2 run that put the Vikings up 36-14 at the 4:14 mark of the first half. The Vikes shot 52.9 percent (18-of-34) in the first stanza compared to 25.8 percent (8-of-31) for the Raiders. In addition, CSU committed just one miscue prior to intermission compared to eight WSU turnovers.
"I thought it was the best first half of basketball we've played since we've been here," said CSU Head Coach Rollie Massimino.
CSU, 17-9 overall and 8-2 in the MCC, was led in scoring by junior Theo Dixon with 17 points. Robinson added 13 points to the cause while Jamaal Harris and Gosley chipped in 12 apiece.
Jesse Deister took game scoring honors for the Raiders, 14-8, 5-4, with 21 points while Israel Sheinfeld tossed in 13.
The Raiders won the battle of the boards, 42-41, marking just the seventh time this season that the Vikes had not prevailed in that category. Sheinfeld pulled down a game-high 10 boards for WSU while CSU was led by Dixon and senior Kevin Ross with nine apiece.
The Vikings, who won their eight straight game, equalled the 1992-93 squad's Goodman Arena record for wins with 11.
CSU will close out the home portion of its schedule Saturday - Senior Night - against Butler University at 7 p.m. at Goodman Arena.
