Nov. 25, 2009
Contact: Brian McCann
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CANCUN, Mexico -- Sylven Landesbrg scored 20 points and Will Sherrill came off the bench to add 18, including 15 in the second half, as Virginia rallied from an 10-point second half deficit to pull out a 76-65 win over Cleveland State in the third place game of the Cancun Challenge.
The Vikings drop to 3-3- on the season after losing both games in Mexico while Virginia rebounds from Tuesday's loss to Stanford to improve to 4-2.
"We let this one get away from us," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "They made a good adjustment to our defensive pressure at halftime and we weren't able to overcome it because it seemed like every shot they took went in.
"We played a really good first 20 minutes in which we took away the inside game and limited their ability to get a shot from the perimeter without a man on. In the second half, they played inside out to create three-point attempts and it worked for them," Waters said.
Jeremy Montgomery led three Vikings in double figures with 14 points while Aaron Pogue added 13 and Norris Cole 12.
The first half featured five ties and eight lead changes as both teams battled hard defensively. With Pogue controlling the paint for CSU, the Vikings shot .652 from the field (15-23) to take a 34-27 lead at the half.
The second half featured more of the same as CSU extended its lead to 39-29 at the 17:33 mark. Three straight Cavalier baskets inside cut the lead to 41-38 (15:13) and UVA would eventually tie the game at 46-46 (12:13) on a Sherrill trey.
Virginia would take the lead for good when it ran off five straight points, two on a dunk by Mika Scott and three more on a trey by Sherrill.
The Vikings would keep the game close, trailing 66-65 with 2:31 left before the Cavaliers would take control, knocking down treys by Sherrill and Mustapha Farrakhan to lead 72-65 with 1:18 left.
Scott would finish 15 points and eight rebounds while the Cavaliers would go eight-for-11 from three-point in the second half (.727).
Cleveland State had a good offensive night, going 26-for-47 from the field (.553) and nine-for-21 from three-point (.429) with just 10 turnovers but 67-percent shooting from Virginia in the second half (18-67) proved to be the problem.
"These two games will be a good lesson for us," Waters said. "Now we need to get home and get ready because a tough Wichita State team comes to town on Saturday and we follow that up with two league games on the road." \ The Vikings will face the Shockers on Saturday (Nov. 28) beginning at 2:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
