March 3, 2009
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Contact: Brian McCann
Cleveland State's offense came to life midway through the second half, allowing the Vikings to go on an 11-2 run and take control of the game, defeating Detroit, 56-43 in an opening round game of the Speedway Horizon League Championship.
The third-seeded Vikings (22-10) advance to face No. 7 UIC on Friday (March 6) beginning at 8:00 p.m. in Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The night wasn't a total victory for CSU as sophomore D'Aundray Brown went down with a hyper-extended right knee late in the first half and was unable to return. Brown, who missed eight games earlier in the year with broken rib, will have an MRI done on Wednesday. CSU was 5-3 without Brown in the lineup.
Cedric Jackson led CSU with 16 points, eight assists, six rebounds and five assists while J'Nathan added 15 points and 13 rebounds for his 17th career double-double. Norris Cole overcame a scoreless first half to score 12 second half points.
Jackson's eight assists allowed the senior to tie the school record for assists in a season with 177, equaling the mark originally set by Ken McFadden in 1987-88.
Thomas Kennedy led Detroit with 12 points with former Viking signee Eulis Stephens adding 11 points as the Titans were held below 50 points and 40-percent shooting for the third time against the Vikings this season.
"Our guys did a great job in the second half defensively," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "At one point we were holding them to 20-percent shooting in the second half and I thought that that was the difference.
"When you play a team for the third time, it is not easy. I thought we weren't clicking on offense and they were doing enough to stay around. When you are playing a team that doesn't have anything to lose, they just let it all hang out."
The Vikings looked like they would make short work of the Titans, making five of their first seven shots to run out to a 14-5 advantage at the 13:00 mark.
But the Titans would pack in the 2-3 zone and alternate using a box and one on Cedric Jackson to slow the Viking running game.
Detroit would tie the game at 27-27 on a Nemanja Jokic three-pointer with 15:54 left and trail, 30-29 with 14:34 left.
Just as suddenly as the offense cooled, the Vikings offense regrouped, partly due to Jackson.
Jackson found Cole alone in the left corner for a baseline three-pointer to push the lead to four and George Tandy scored in the lane off a nice pass from Jackson to make it a 35-29 game.
Bullock would make one of two free throws and Detroit's Woody Payne connected on a short jumper before Jackson found Trey Harmon open for a trey. On the ensuing possession, Jackson took that ball away from Thomas Kennedy for his fifth steal of the night and fed the ball ahead to a streaking Cole, who scored to give CSU a 41-31 lead with 9:17 left.
Detroit would come no closer than seven down the stretch as the Vikings played solid defense down the stretch and slowly pulled away, leading by as many as 16 (56-40).
The win was CSU's 22nd of the season, tying for the third-highest single season total in school history. In addition, the Vikings improve to 13-2 in the Wolstein Center this season, breaking the old facility record of 12 wins set last season.
Over the last two years, CSU is now 25-4 in the Wolstein Center.
