Feb. 25, 2010
Contact: Brian McCann
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Xavier Keeling scored 21 points, going five-for-six from three-point, as Detroit overcame a fast Viking start to claim a 65-54 win in the Wolstein Center on Thursday night.
The loss, CSU's fourth straight in league play, dropped the Vikings to 14-16 on the year and 9-8 in league play. Detroit improved to 17-13 overall and 8-9 in conference action.
"It was like the men playing against the boys out there tonight and we were the boys," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "We didn't go after it. They came into our house and beat us and that's disappointing. We started out well but when we had to go to the bench, things changed.
"This will never happen here again," Waters added. "We will right this ship and bring some players in who are physical enough to do things. This was embarrassing."
Everything appeared to be going the Vikings way when they opened up a 15-2 lead just five minutes into the game. That's where everything went south for CSU as the Titans, behind a three-point shooting barrage led by Keeling, ran off 17 straight points to take the lead, 19-15 with 9:06 left in the opening half.
Norris Cole led CSU with 20 points, the 19th 20-point game of his career, but he got little support. D'Aundray Brown added 11 points, but sat out 11 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, and Jeremy Montgomery added 10 points and seven assists, but was just three-for-nine from the field, missing all four of his three-point attempts.
Keeling, who had 24 points in the first meeting against CSU back in December, led the Titans again. Thomas Kennedy added 15 points, Eli Homan chipped in with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Chase Siumon scored 11 points. All but four of Detroit's points were scored by the five starters.
After tailing 41-30 at the break, CSU reorganized in the second half and rallied to close to within 46-43 with 14:26 left. The Viking went to the bench again and the same struggles appeared.
With Detroit leading, 50-46 (12:07), the Vikings turned the ball over four times and missed three shots on its next seven possessions to allow the Titans to move back ahead, 55-46 (7:50). There was no comeback this time as CSU would come no closer than six points down the stretch.
"Turnovers killed us," Waters said. "We had a chance to get back in the game, but we turned the ball over, took some bad shots and allowed them to get three offensive rebounds and run down the clock."
The dagger in the Viking hearts came with 3:30 left. With Detroit inbounding with three seconds left on the shot clock, Keeling took a pass at the left side of the circle, spun away from a CSU defender, took one dribble and knocked down a long three as the shot clock expired to put Detroit ahead, 58-49.
The trey was Detroit's 10th of the night, in 14 attempts, allowing the Titans to shoot 71.4 percent from beyond the arc. "Detroit is a talented team, but one of their weaknesses this year was three-point shooting," Waters said. "For them to shoot like they did, is remarkable."
CSU would come back to tie the game at 19-19 (8:35) but the Titans then went inside for four straight baskets to push the lead back to nine. The Vikings would come no closer than three points the rest of the way.
CSU closes the regular season with a 2:00 p.m. meeting with Wright State on Saturday (Feb. 27).
The loss dropped the Vikings into a fifth place tie in the league standings with a 9-8 record and one game to go in the regular season. CSU will need a win over Wright State on Saturday or a Detroit loss at Youngstown State to assure itself of a home game next Tuesday (March 2) against Detroit in the opening round of the league tournament.
If the Vikings fall to Wright State and Detroit wins at Youngstown State, then CSU will play at Detroit only if Milwaukee defeats UIC on Saturday and will travel to Milwaukee if the Panthers lose to UIC.
