Feb. 17, 2010
Contact: Brian McCann
• Purchase Tickets
• Group Ticket Information
• 2009-10 Basketball Promotions
• CSU Hoops Luncheon Series
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin - Green Bay overcame a nine-point first half deficit, using a 30-4 burst early in the second half to run away from Cleveland State, 74-57, on Tuesday night, dealing the Vikings a big setback in their attempt to secure the No. 2 seed in next month's Horizon League Championship.
The loss, CSU's second in a row, drops the Vikings to 13-14 overall and 9-6 in league play and moves them into fourth place, a full game behind second place Wright State (10-5) and a half-game behind Green Bay (10-6) with three league games to go.
"I am disappointed with our play tonight because we are a better team than this," CSU head coach Gary Waters said.
"I thought we did a good job of defending in the first half and Green Bay just missed some shots," Waters said. "They weren't going to miss shots all night long and when they got a bunch of good looks in the second half, they took advantage of them."
The Vikings took the lead with nine minutes left in the first half and led by as many as nine (28-19, 3:52), CSU took a 32-26 lead to the halftime break.
The lead didn't last long as the Phoenix hit three three-pointers in the first 4:01 of the second half to key a 13-5 run that gave them the lead for good, 39-37 with 15:59 left.
Trailing 37-33 with 17:21 left, Green Bay went on a monster roll, running off 30 of the next 34 points to take control of the contest. When the dust settled, CSU trailed 63-41 with just 7:20 left. \ "Sometimes there is nothing you can do when everything your opponent puts up, goes in," Waters said.
The Vikings would use a full-court press to rally. Down 65-43, CSU forced three straight Green Bay turnovers to key a 9-0 run that pulled them to within 65-52 with 5:05 left.
CSU would come no closer down the stretch as the Phoenix played a steady offense to run the clock.
Jeremy Montgomery and Aaron Pogue led the Vikings with 12 points while Trey Harmon added 12 points. Randy Berry led Green Bay with 19 points while Rahmon Fletcher and Bryquis Perine added 17 and 14 points, respectively.
The game turned on shooting. The Phoenix were just nine-for-24 in the first half (.375), including an anemic one-for-eight from three-point (.125), but bounced back to shoot .667 in the second half (18-27), making five of their eight three-point attempts (.625).
Adding it up, Green Bay shot .529 for the game (27-51) and limited the Vikings to .413 shooting (19-46).
The two halves in the game could not have been much different.
The Vikings rode some hot outside shooting to open up a 32-26 halftime advantage, going 11-for-22 from the field in the first half, including five-for-six from three-point (.833).
Green Bay jumped out quickly, opening up leads of 6-2 (17:07), 10-4 (14:52) and 12-7 (13:41) before the Vikings offense got on track.
Down 12-7, CSU ran off 10 straight points to open up a 17-12 lead with 8:41 left. Brown sandwiched a pair of jumpers in the lane around two Montgomery free throws to open the stretch and Harmon put the exclamation point, knocking down a long three from the right side while being fouled and then completing the four point play by making the free throw, his 19th consecutive make.
Green Bay would close to within 22-18 (5:38), but Charlie Woods would connect on a pair of treys to give the Vikings a 28-19 lead with 3:52 left.
CSU would lead 32-23, but Randy Berry would make one of two free throws and Rian Pearson would beat the first half clock with a layup inside with one second left to close out the half.
The Vikings remain in Wisconsin this week, making the short trip to Milwaukee to face the Panthers on Thursday (Feb. 18) starting at 8:30 p.m. EST. CSU then returns home to take part in the annual BracketBusters event, hosting Toledo (3-22) on Saturday (Feb. 20) at 6:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
