Feb. 18, 2010
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Milwaukee, Wis. - Milwaukee shot 57-percent from the floor in the second half and the Panthers outscored Cleveland State 16-6 from the foul stripe in the second 20 minutes to claim a 69-59 win over the Vikings on Thursday night in the US Cellular Arena. The loss, Cleveland State's third straight drops the Vikings (13-15, 9-7) into fifth place in the league, a half game behind Valparaiso (15-14, 10-7) and a game ahead of Milwaukee (16-12, 8-8).
"You can't go 2-16 from three-point and allow 17 offensive rebounds and expect to win a game on the road in this league, it's just not going to happen," head coach Gary Waters said. "I thought we came ready to play, and play hard, we just couldn't get the shots to fall. They have a bunch of big kids inside who really banged the boards and we had a hard time matching up with them. To make it worse, it's hard to do what we normally do when you have to go the final 20 minutes without Trey. Hopefully he will be back for Saturday, but if not we need him for next week."
Norris Cole led the Vikings with 22 points, including an eight-for-eight effort from the stripe, but cold perimeter shooting hurt the Vikings all night as CSU could manage just .375 shooting from the field (24-64) and was just two-for-18 from three point.
To make matters worse for the Vikings, CSU played without Trey Harmon in the second half because of a mild concussion, from catching an elbow late in the first half.
Ja'Rob McCallum and Lonnie Boga each came off the bench to lead Milwaukee with 12 points and James Eayrs added 11.
"It's tough to win on the road in this league because everyone defends their home courts so well," Waters said. "Tonight was a good example, they put a run together when we couldn't and once we were behind it seemed like it was impossible to get back."
With the Vikings trailing 46-41 with 10:08 left, Boga knocked down his first three-pointer of the game to key a 9-2 run that seemingly put the game out of reach for CSU. Boga started and finished the run with three-pointers, the last coming from 35 feet as the shot clock expired.
But the difference on this night was Milwaukee overcoming some first half shooting woes to make 13-23 field goal attempts (.565) with Boga knocking down all three of his three point attempts in the second half.
Cole, who recorded his 17th career 20 point game, surpassed the 1,100 point mark for his career, ending the night with 1,118 career points. He almost single handedly kept the Vikings chances alive, scoring 12 straight points on a variety of foul line jumpers and free throws, but when he ended the run with 1:41 left the Vikings still trailed by six, 63-57 and they would come no closer.
"We were able to cut it to six, but on three straight possessions we came away empty, including two turnovers," Waters said. "When you are behind you have to take advantage of every opportunity and we didn't do that tonight."
The first half was unremarkable as both teams struggled offensively to find their shooting touch. The Vikings were just nine-for-32 from the field (.281) including misses on all 10 of their three-point attempts, while Milwaukee was slightly better, shooting .323 from the field (10-for-31) and making just one of their ten three pointers.
For added measures, the Panthers went just two-for-10 from the foul stripe while CSU was three-for-five.
CSU took leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 6-4 before Milwaukee ran off six straight points to open up a 10-6 advantage with 12:59 left in the first half. The Vikings fought back to tie it at ten with 12:13 left off baskets by D'Aundray Brown and Norris Cole but a three pointer by Ja'Rob McCallum and a chip in basket from Tony Meier put the Panthers ahead for the remainder of the half.
UWM would lead by as many as six (23-17) with 4:09 left, but a pair of Tim Kamzcyc baskets inside off passes from Cole closed the Vikings to within 23-21 at the intermission.
The Vikings opened the start of the second half on fire offensively, with a dunk by Aaron Pogue followed by a three-pointer by Jared Cunningham which gave CSU a 28-27 lead with 18:03 left.
With CSU leading 30-29 with 17:09 left, Milwaukee ran off seven straight points to take the lead for good, opening up a 36-30 lead with 15:35 left to play.
For the second time this season the Vikings tied the school record by committing just five turnovers, the first coming against Milwaukee earlier in the season, but the undersized Vikings were outrebounded 48-31 with Milwaukee also grabbing 17 offensive boards.
But the difference on this night was Milwaukee overcoming some first half shooting woes to make 13 out of 23 field goal attempts (.565) with Boga knocking down all three of his three-point attempts in the second half.
The Vikings return home to face the Toledo Rockets this Saturday (Feb. 20) at 6:00 p.m. as part of the ESPNU Bracketbusters.
