Feb. 27, 2010
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Contact: Brian McCann
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Jeremy Montgomey battled foul trouble to score 18 points, including the basket with 46 seconds left that gave Cleveland State the lead for good as the Vikings knocked off Wright State, 68-63 to assure themselves a first round home game in next week's Horizon League Championship.
The win improved CSU to 15-16 on the year and 10-8 in league play. Combined with a Milwaukee win at UIC and a Valparaiso loss to Butler on Friday evening and the Vikings finish in a three-way tie for fourth place. Cleveland State earns the No. 5 seed and will host Loyola (14-15, 5-13) on Tuesday night (March 2) at 7:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
"This was a big win for us today," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "After losing badly to Detroit, we talked a lot as a team yesterday about defending and being strong because we didn't do that the other night and we let Detroit push us around. We didn't want that to happen again.
"This was an important game because it was literally the difference between playing at home or traveling for a first round game this week and we didn't want to begin the defense of our championship on the road."
Playing a total of 23 minutes, and just eight in the second half, Montgomery re-entered the game with 3:09 left with four fouls and immediately had an impact. He knocked down a three-pointer from the left corner with 2:06 left to give CSU a 60-59 lead. After Troy Tabler made one of two free throws to tie the game at 60, Montgomery broke free on the baseline and hit a 10-foot shot with 46 seconds left to give CSU a 62-60 lead.
After a Cory Cooperwood missed shot inside, Norris Cole made a pait of free throws to push the led to 64-60. Two more missed Raider shots followed with Tim Kamczyc getting the second rebound.
Kamczyc was fouled, converting both free throws to push the lead to 66-60 with 12 seconds left. After Cole converted two more free throws, Vaughn Duggins made a three-pointer at the buzzer to close out the scoring
Montgomery finished with 18 points, including four three-pointers, while D'Aundray Brown, Kamczyc and Cole each had 11 points. N'Gai Evans led Wright State with 22 points with Duggins adding 14 and Tabler 11.
"We won this game because we did the things late in the game that you have to do to win close games. . . take care of the ball, make your free throws and don't let up offensive rebounds. We started to let things get away from us, but I called a timeout and we were able to refocus.," Waters said.
The game was close early until Montgomery made back-to-back treys to push CSU ahead, 19-10 with 12:14 left.
That would be the last CSU would score for awhile as the Raiders ran off 15 straight points to build a 25-19 lead with 7:32 left.
The Vikings trailed 32-25 with 2:58 left in the first half before scoring the final seven points of the stanza to tie the contest at 32-32.
The second half could not have been closer, featuring eight ties and four lead changes.
CSU opened up a 44-37 advantage with 12:39 left but the Raiders rallied to tie the contest at 44-44 with 10:39 left.
The game was then tied at 46, 48, 50, 52, 54 and 57 before Todd Brown put Wright State ahead, 59-57, with 2:48 left, setting the stage for Montgomery's finish.
The difference in the game came in shooting. The Vikings went 12-for-24 from the field after the break shoot 490 for the game (24-49) while the Raiders were just eight-for-24 in the second half (.333) and .391 for the game (18-46).
The Raiders had a slight edge at the line, going 20-for-25 (.800) but CSU was 14-for-16 (.875), including six-for-six in the final two minutes.
Most importantly, the Vikings worked for their shots, registering 18 assists on their 24 baskets.
Tickes for the Tuesday night tournament game against Loyola will go on sale Monday morning. Ticket prices for the game are $10, $15 and $25 with current CSU students (with ID) being admitted free.
