Dec. 2, 2004

Final Stats |  Quotes |  Notes

Contact: Brian McCann

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Raheem Moss and Omari Westley combined to score 40 points, including 12 during a decisive 17-0 run during a five minute span late in the second half, as Cleveland State improved to 3-0 for the first time in 19 years with a 91-73 win over Clarion on Thursday night in the CSU Convocation Center.

With the score knotted at 67-67 with 8:28 left, the inside-outside tandem of Westley and Moss took over. Westley, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, started the spurt with three straight points to give the Vikings the lead for good. Moss, who scored a career-high 22 points, followed by sandwiching a pair of three-pointers around two free throws and a Westley basket to put the game out of reach.

By the time Modibo Niakate finished the spurt with his own personal 5-0 run with a slam dunk off a steal, the Vikings led 84-67 with just 3:38 left. Niakate, the leading scorer in the Horizon League, scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half.

"We were happy that we were able to go from being tied with eight minutes left to win by 19," Westley said. "That shows great team chemistry and that we are growing up and learning to play together."

The game belonged to Moss, a sophomore who transferred to CSU last year after playing his freshman season at Bowling Green. He was six-of-seven from three-point, handing out a career-high six assists with no turnovers.

"I didn't realize that I only missed one three," Moss said. "I was just shooting and wasn't worried about missing. I was just letting the ball fly and they dropped."

As they had showed during their first two victories, the Vikings won the contest with good team play and hard-nosed defense. CSU handed out 24 assists, the most by a Mike Garland coached team, while committing just 10 turnovers, the fewest under Garland. Defensively, the Vikings turned 18 Clarion turnovers into 27 points.

The contest was one of the Vikings best offensive showing under Garland. CSU shot a blistering .508 from the field (32-63), including .563 in the second half (18-32), and connected on 10 three-pointers in 21 attempts (.476).

The game started 25 minutes late after the Clarion team bus experienced mechanical problems during its trip to Cleveland. When the game finally started, the chemistry didn't appear to be present.

Westley scored the first five points of the game, helping the Vikings jump out to a quick 16-8 lead.

But Clarion fought back, using a 13-0 burst midway through the half to turn a 26-18 CSU lead into a 31-26 advantage with 7:09 left.

With Westley on the bench for the final nine minutes of the first half with two fouls, the CSU offense struggled but was able to fight back to take a 43-40 halftime lead.

Clarion jumped right back out on top early in the second half, leading by as as many as five on three different occasions. Ryan Wells, who scored a team-high 22 points for the Golden Eagles, gave Clarion its final lead of the night (65-64) when he tipped in a missed shot with 9:16 left.

Westley made one of two free throws to tie the game at 65-65 and then put CSU ahead by two with a thunderous dunk in transition. Wells countered with a basket in the line to tie the game for the seventh -- and final -- time a 67-67 with 8:28 left. Michael Clarke added 17 points and nine rebounds while Terrance Vaughns chipped in with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Westley, the Horizon League's leading rebounder, recorded his third straight double-double of the season and 14th of his career

The Vikings received good offensive production off the bench for the third straight game as the CSU reserves out-scored Clarion, 33-12. In addition to Niakate's 13 points, juniors Justin Henderson and Frashon McGee added 10 and seven points, respectively.

The three straight wins to open the season mark the first time since 1985-86 that a Viking team started out the year 3-0 and it was the first three-game win streak by CSU since 2000-01 when the Vikings won seven straight contests.

Cleveland State takes the weekend off from play before taking to the road for the first time in the 2004-05 season when it plays Akron on Wednesday (Dec. 8).