Dec. 3, 2010
Contact: Brian McCann
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GREEN BAY, Wis. - Norris Cole scored a game-high 26 points, Trey Harmon added 19 and Jeremy Montgomery 15 as Cleveland State won in Green Bay for just the second time in the last 10 meetings to extend its school record to nine straight wins to start the season with an 83-75 win over the Phoenix on Thursday night in the Resch Center.
The Vikings (9-0), who became the first team in the nation to win nine games this year, claimed their first Horizon League win of the season while Green Bay (3-4, 0-1) lost at home for the first time this season.
"It is good to get this win behind us," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "We have not won in Wisconsin since I came to CSU and it was important that we get this win tonight.
"I told the team before the game that in order to win on the road, especially in a difficult environment like this, you need to take care of the ball, make your free throws and rebound the basketball. We did two of those things pretty well tonight," Waters added.
Bryquis Perine led Green Bay with 22 points while Alec Brown added 15 and Troy Snyder 13.
After a foul laden first half that kept Cole, Tim Kamczyc and Aaron Pogue on the bench for extended minutes because of foul trouble, the Vikings took the lead late in the first half, slowly pulled away in an almost business-like manner in the first 13 minutes of the second stanza and then held off a charge from the Phoenix down the stretch.
With CSU leading, 39-36, at the half, Green Bay scored on its opening possession of the second half to pull to within 39-38.
Montgomery countered with a three-point from the left corner, becoming the sixth different Viking to make a trey, and Harmon followed with a short jumper to push the lead to 44-38 with 18:31 left.
The Vikings would continue to lead, but never put the Phoenix away.
A three-pointer by Charlie Woods at the 10:39 mark gave CSU a 56-47 lead. Woods finished with nine points, including a pair of treys.
The lead would grow to as many as 13, 62-49, when Cole converted a pair of free throws and Montgomery made one of two with 7:23 left.
The Phoenix would rally down the stretch, pulling to within 78-73 on a Bryquis Perine three-pointer with 31 seconds left, but the Vikings made their free throws down the stretch to ice the game. CSU scored its final 12 points from the foul stripe, going 12-for-14 from the stripe in the final 1:06 of the game to ice the contest.
"I knew that once we had the lead in the final minutes, that things favored us because we are a very good free throw shooting team, especially with the game on the line," Waters said. "We were able to keep the ball in the hands of the right people and when they had to foul, our guys came through."
Most of the damage was done by Cole, who went 15-for-16 from the line, all coming in the second half, including 11-for-12 down the stretch. It was his fifth 20-point game of the season and second in a row.
The other key to the win was three-point shooting as CSU made a season-high 10 treys, the 12th-highest single game total in school history and shot .714 from beyond the arc (10-14), the third-highest percentage in school history (with at least five makes).
"I knew that sooner or later we were going to have a three-point shooting night like we had tonight," Waters said. "We are a good shooting team but we just hadn't made our shots this year. Tonight was a great example of what we can do from the outside."
Harmon did most of his damage from beyond the arc, going four-for-five to finish with a season-high 19 points. He was five-for-six from the stripe with five rebounds.
Montgomery, who was held to just two points in the opening half, scored 13 points after the break to finish in double figures for the fifth time this year. He set career highs for free throws attempted and made by going eight-for 10.
"Jeremy and Trey played well tonight, and we needed it," Waters said. "With Norris out of the lineup for an extended period in the first half, they needed to come through for us and they did."
The unsung player in the contest was junior Joe Latas, who played a career-high 25 minutes, scoring six points with a career-high tying five rebounds and a personal best four blocked shots. He replaced Pogue early in the first half and played good defense in the post.
The Vikings had a great shooting night all-around, going 21-for -40 from the field to shoot above 50-percent for the second time this year. CSU was also 31-for-38 from the line (.816).
Nothing was decided in the first 10 minutes as foul trouble limited the playing time of several starters on each side as the Vikings had a 39-36 advantage at the break. The first half featured four ties and six lead changes.
The long ball was the friend of CSU as five different Vikings made treys in the first half, including three by Harmon as part of a 13-point first half.
After the Phoenix took a 5-2 lead on a trey by Perine with 17:25 left, Cole sandwiched a pair of jumpers around two free throws by Harmon to put CSU ahead, 8-5 (15:16).
The Vikings would hold the lead, using a three-pointer from Woods with 10:15 left to open CSU's largest lead of the frame, 22-12.
But Cole, who scored nine of the first 19 points for CSU, would go to the bench with two fouls at the 1);38 mark and sit for the remainder of the half.
With Cole out, the Phoenix rallied, tying the game at 29-29 on a Derek Semenas trey with 3:50 left.
Four free throws and a long three down the stretch by Harmon, who led CSU with 13 points in the half, would allow the Vikings to take a lead to the locker room.
The Vikings continue their initial Horizon League road trip of the season when CSU plays at Milwaukee on Saturday (Dec. 4) beginning at 7:00 p.m. in U.S. Cellular Arena in downtown Milwaukee.
