Nov. 25, 2011
Contact: Greg Murphy
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KINGSTON, R.I. - Jeremy Montgomery hit a pair of free throws with 3.4 seconds left to cap a furious second half rally and give Cleveland State a 63-62 win over Boston University in the Ticket City Legends Classic on Friday afternoon.
The win improved the Vikings to 5-0 this season, the second best start in program history, while the Terriers fell to 0-4.
It was the second time in a week that the Vikings won in the final seconds. Trey Harmon hit a three-pointer with two seconds left last Friday in a win over St. Bonaventure.
"This was a hard-fought game and they outplayed us for 39 minutes today," head coach Gary Waters said. "They were really up to play and I thought our guys were always on the defense, but at the end, they came through as seniors should. They made plays that gave us a chance to win."
The Vikings trailed 45-34 with 9:46 to play, but refused to go away, scoring five straight points to cut the deficit to six (45-39) on two Montgomery free throws with 8:41 to play. However, the Terriers came right back and pushed the lead to nine points (52-43) on a three-point play from Patrick Hazel.
Once again, the Vikings refused to wilt.
Three straight baskets by D'Aundray Brown followed, including a three-pointer that capped his own personal 7-0 run to bring CSU within two at 52-50 with 4:19 left. After two Terrier free throws, Brown hit another three-pointer to slice the lead to one (54-53) with just over three minutes left.
Three straight free throws from Boston U. followed, but Harmon answered with a three-pointer to bring the Vikings back within one (57-56) with 1:49 left.
A bucket by the Terriers was answered with two Aaron Pogue free throws, but after two more BU free throws, the Vikings came up empty and Darryl Patin split a pair of free throws to give the Terriers a 62-58 lead with 13 seconds left.
The Vikings came down the court quickly and got the ball to Harmon who nailed a three-pointer with six seconds left to bring CSU back within one at 62-61.
Following a timeout, BU had to inbound the ball from underneath its own basket. With the five second count ticking close, the Terriers got the ball inbounds, but it was tipped away and Montgomery came up with it and was tripped up by Matt Griffin.
"We wanted to be in a total denial on the inbound," Waters said. "We wanted to make them lob the ball, that's what they ended up doing, we were able to get the steal and hit the free throws."
As the eighth team foul, Montgomery went to the line for a one-and-one and hit the front end to tie the game at 62-62. He nailed the second one which proved to be the game-winner when a Terrier desperation shot missed at the buzzer.
"It was big to come up with the steal and get Jeremy to the free throw line because we didn't have to hit a shot from the field," Waters said. "We work on free throws each and every day and it paid off for us today."
The game got off to a slow start offensively as a Montgomery three-pointer made it 3-2 at the 18:46 mark. It stayed that way for almost three minutes as the first half would feature three ties and eight lead changes.
Freshman Anton Grady finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Brown added 14 points and six boards. Harmon had 11 points and Pogue grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
CSU shot 22-of-65 from the field, while holding BU to 16-of-40. The Vikings forced the Terriers into 19 turnovers, the first team to finish with less than 20 turnovers against CSU this year.
The Vikings had 11 steals. They also hit 12-of-13 at the free throw line, while Boston went 28-of-44 at the charity stripe. The Vikings also held a 41-34 advantage on the boards.
The Vikings continue play in the Ticket City Legends Classic on Saturday (Nov. 26) when CSU plays Hofstra at 2:30 p.m. at Rhode Island.
