Nov. 18, 2011
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State senior Trey Harmon hit a three-pointer with 2.8 seconds to play to lift the Vikings to a 67-64 win over St. Bonaventure on Friday night in the Wolstein Center.
"Coach does a great job of designing last shot plays," Harmon said. "We executed at the right moment and it fell for us. Aaron (Pogue) set a great screen for me and I was wide open. I had to knock that shot down. This is what you're here for."
"The play was designed for Aaron (Pogue) to do a down screen and Trey to get a shot," head coach Gary Waters said. "We wanted to look inside for Aaron. The shot clock was down to about two and he had the open shot. That was okay. Both options were there. We told Trey if he is open, take the shot! I thought he did a great job executing. It looked scrambled because we had to hold the ball. The play was designed for eight seconds. We wanted to take the shot and if we missed, we wanted it to go to overtime."
The win improved the Vikings to 3-0 this season, while the Bonnies fell to 1-1.
CSU found itself trailing by nine points (55-46) with 9:31 to play, but a quick 9-1 spurt over the next three minutes brought CSU within one (56-55) on a Harmon layup. The Bonnies pushed the lead back to five points (61-56) with 4:07 to play, but a layup by Tim Kamczyc and a pair of free throws each by D'Aundray Brown and Jeremy Montgomery gave CSU their first lead (62-61) of the game since early in the first half.
Following a SBU miss, Kamczyc hit a short jumper in the lane with 2:21 to play to push the Viking lead to three (64-61). However, a three-point play by Michael Davenport tied it at 64-64 with 1:30 to play.
Both teams missed shots on their next possessions, setting the stage for Harmon's game-winner.
"This was a test for our team," Waters said. "A test of resiliency and we had to fight back. This is a good team that is going to fight for the A-10 championship. I was pleased with the way we competed, especially the young kids. Our defense did what it's supposed to do, turn them over, but we missed some golden opportunities when we did that."
The Vikings forced 23 turnovers, their third straight game of forcing at least 20 turnovers, and made 13 steals. CSU now has 43 steals in three games.
St. Bonaventure took a seven point lead (22-15) midway through the first half, but a 9-2 run by the Vikings evened the game at 24-24 with 5:56 to play. It was still tied at 29-29 with 2:14 left before the Bonnies closed the half on an 8-3 run to take a 37-32 lead at the intermission.
The Bonnies extended the lead to as many as nine points in the second half, the final time coming with 9:31 to play (55-46) before CSU began to work its way back into the game.
Harmon finished 7-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point. Brown added 12 points and three steals, while Montgomery scored 12 points with three assists and three steals.
Andrew Nicholson led the Bonnies with 19 points and six rebounds before fouling out with 3:32 to play.
The Vikings will be back in action on Tuesday (Nov. 22) when CSU heads to Kent State for a 7:30 p.m. contest.
Postgame Player Notes
Senior Guard Trey Harmon
• Scored a season-high 20 points.
• Hit a three-pointer with 2.8 seconds left from the top of the arc to give CSU a 67-64 lead.
• Hit 7-of-12 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point.
• Raised his career scoring total to 968 points, 32 shy of becoming 20th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.
Senior Center Aaron Pogue
• Returned to the starting lineup after missing Tuesday's game against Rio Grande with dizziness.
• Scored six points, hitting 3-of-4 from the field, and added five rebounds.
Senior Guard D'Aundray Brown
• Scored 12 points, making 2-of-3 from three-point.
• Added four rebounds and three assists.
Game Notes
• Today was the eighth all-time meeting between Cleveland State and St. Bonaventure.
• When St. Bonaventure's Andrew Nicholson hit a three-pointer at the 17:21 mark, it gave the Bonnies a 7-6 lead. It was the first time CSU trailed this season, a span of 83:39.
• With 14:29 left in the first half, head coach Gary Waters subbed out the starting five with five new players - Charlie Lee, Sebastian Douglas, Ike Nwamu, Anton Grady and Luda Ndaye. It was the first action of the season for Nwamu after he missed the first two games with a concussion.
• St. Bonaventure took a seven point lead (22-15) midway through the first half, but a 9-2 run by the Vikings evened the game at 24-24 with 5:56 to play. It was still tied at 29-29 with 2:14 left before the Bonnies closed the half on an 8-3 run to take a 37-32 lead at the intermission.
• The Bonnies extended the lead to as many as nine points in the second half, the final time coming with 9:31 to play (55-46). The Vikings would rally back to take a 62-61 lead with three minutes left on two free throws from Jeremy Montgomery.
• The Vikings forced 23 turnovers, the third time in as many games that CSU forced at least 20 turnovers. The Vikings made 13 steals and have 43 in three games this season.
• CSU hit a season-high seven three-pointers after making five in each of their first two games.
