Vikings Top Milwaukee, 70-61, for 18th Win

Posted: Feb 12, 2009

Feb. 12, 2009

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State raced out to a 39-25 lead and had four players in double figures as the Vikings knocked off Milwaukee, 70-61, in Horizon League action on Thursday night in the Wolstein Center.

CSU improved to 18-8 overall and 9-5 in the league, good for a third place tie with Milwaukee and Wright State, just two games behind Green Bay (11-3) who visits CSU on Saturday (Feb. 14) night.

Milwaukee slipped to 14-10 overall (9-5) HL.

Cedric Jackson flirted with the first triple-double in school history, finishing with 11 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and four steals. J'Nathan Bullock added his 16th career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

D'Aundray Brown added 13 points, six boards and four steals, while Norris Cole chipped in 14 points and five rebounds.

"Milwaukee is not as simple as you think to play," head coach Gary Waters said. "Big guys shoot it and guards drive it. We were pretty fortunate they didn't hit some of those shots. But our guys were resilient and we didn't let them off the hook. They continued to play hard.

""Last time we played them, they scored inside and outside. If they were going to beat us today, it was going to be from the outside and they weren't on today. We didn't want to give them easy baskets inside."

Claiming a four-point lead (18-14) midway through the first half, the Vikings closed the first 20 minutes on a 21-11 run to assume a 14-point lead at the intermission.

"We talked about getting off to a fast start and it was paramount that we did," Waters said. "If they thought they could play in our place, I thought it could be a problem. I have to give them credit for coming back in the second half."

However, UWM came back quickly in the second half, scoring nine of the first 12 points to cut the CSU lead to six (42-36) with 17:26 left in the game and force a Viking timeout.

The Panthers continued to chip away at the lead and got it all the way down to three (49-46) with 11:17 to play on a Ricky Franklin three-pointer.

But Cole responded with a three-pointer of his own, Jackson followed with a layup, Bullock hit a free throw, Brown hit a pair of free throws and Trevon Harmon hit another to push the lead back to 12 points (58-46) with 8:34 to play.

The Panthers would not threaten from there.

CSU shot .455 (25-55) from the field, including a sizzling 16-of-28 (.571) in the first half. The Vikings also hit 4-of-7 (.571) from three-point and made 16-of-22 (.727) free throws.

Milwaukee went to the line just seven times, making five, and held a 37-35 advantage on the boards. The Panthers were just 24-of-61 (.393) from the field for the game.

James Eayrs led UWM with 19 points and nine boards, while Franklin had 13 points and eight rebounds.

CSU returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 14, when the Vikings host Green Bay at 7:30 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.