Nov. 25, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
• 2008-09 Men's Basketball Promotions
• Purchase Tickets
• Group Ticket Information
• 2008-09 Basketball Promotions
MIAMI, Fla. - Gary Waters should sleep well tonight. After all, the third year Viking head coach had an awful lot of questions get answered in Tuesday afternoon's 77-56 win over Toledo in the second round of the Miami regional of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.
The first was about the CSU offense, which had struggled during the first four games. The Vikings shot a season-high .545 from the field (30-55), were a productive four-for-10 from three-point (.400) and made 13 of their 17 free throws (.765) in scoring a season high 77 points.
Waters also saw the real Cedric Jackson and not the one who struggled to shoot 28-percent from the field in the first four games. Jackson flirted with posting the first triple-double in school history, finishing with 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds while adding a season-high five steals for good measure. He patiently carved up the Toledo defense, taking every opportunity possible to get the Viking fast break going, while being selective offensively, taking a season-low five shots (making three).
Waters may have found some much-needed production off the Viking bench, which came into the game averaging just 12 points. Freshman guard Jeremy Montgomery came off the pine to score a career-high 10 points, adding career highs for assists (4) and steals (4) as well, while Eric Schiele turned in another good offensive effort, tallying eight points in just 11 minutes.
"I thought we came ready to play today," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "We were aggressive defensively like we've been for most of the year, but we finally started to put things together and getting the results offensively that we should. I knew that it would happen eventually and today was as good a day as any.
"Toledo is a pretty decent but we took away the things they like to do offensively and it really frustrated them. That's what we do. We try to take the thing a team is known for because when you lose your identity, you tend to lose the game," Waters added.
Five Vikings scored in double figures with senior Chris Moore leading the way by matching his career high with 17 points while Norris Cole, J'Nathan Bullock and Montgomery each added 10 points.
Toledo couldn't handle Moore inside as the 6-9 senior made all eight of his field goal attempts, including a pair of thunderous two-handed dunks of passes from Jackson.
"Chris has really come alive the last couple of games," Waters said. "When he plays like the way he did tonight, he makes us that much tougher as a team to defend against.
Tyrone Kent led Toledo with 22 points, 16 of which came in the second half, while Justin Anyijong added 10 points.
The Vikings took control of the contest early.
After Anyijong hit a short jumper to give the Rockets a 7-6 lead with 14:43 left, Jackson took over. He put the Vikings ahead for good on a three-pointer with 14:34 left, his first trey of the year after missing his first 14 attempts.
On the next possession, Jackson found Cole all alone in the corner for a three-pointer that pushed the lead to 14-7. Baskets by Moore and Montgomery followed, giving CSU an 18-7 advantage with 10:58 left.
A 9-0 Viking burst that pushed the lead to 29-10 with 3:58 took the wind out of Toledo as CSU never led by less than 13 points the rest of the way.
CSU went to the break with a 33-16 lead after holding the Rockets to four-for-20 shooting (20-percent) and forcing 13 turnovers in the opening half.
The pace picked up for both teams in the second stanza but the results stayed the same as the Vikings extended the lead to 20 (49-29) on a three-pointer by Montgomery with 14:43 left. CSU eventually led by as many as 27 (60-33) down the stretch as Waters liberally used his bench.
"It was nice to get to see a couple of the new guys play some extended minutes today," Waters said. "With another game tomorrow, it really forced us to give some extra minutes to the bench which will help us down the road."
The Vikings, who improved to 3-2, have little time to celebrate the win, returning to the court on Wednesday to end a stretch that has had them play four games in five days when CSU takes on host Florida International at 7:30 p.m.
