Dec. 8, 2011
Contact: Greg Murphy
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MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Tre Harmon tied his career-high with 24 points and Cleveland State capped its seven game road trip with a 62-58 win at Robert Morris on Thursday night.
CSU improved to 9-1 overall and finished its seven game road trip with a 6-1 mark. Robert Morris fell to 7-3.
Harmon hit 7-of-13 from the field and 4-of-8 from three point to equal his career-high set last season against UIC. Jeremy Montgomery added 10 points and Aaron Pogue scored nine.
Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm early in the game as the Colonials held a 7-6 lead seven minutes in. But a 7-1 spurt by RMU over the next three minutes gave them a 14-7 lead at the 10:13 mark when Lucky Jones split a pair of free throws.
CSU answered with six straight points as Harmon started the run with a three-pointer and Aaron Pogue was fouled after the shot was released. Pogue hit one of two free throws for a four-point possession. Two free throws by Jeremy Montgomery pulled CSU within one at 14-13 with 8:06 to play.
However, Velton Jones hit two three-pointers, sandwiched around a Pogue bucket, to extend the Colonial lead back to 20-15 with 4:47 left.
That's when Harmon took over, scoring eight of CSU's final 10 points to close out the half, including a 30-foot three-pointer at the buzzer, sending the Vikings into the locker room with a 27-24 lead.
Harmon scored 14 points in the half, playing just 12 minutes. He picked up his second foul at the 17:23 mark, but re-entered the contest with 11:44 left, providing the Vikings with an offensive boost during the rest of the half.
The Vikings used a strong full-court press over the first part of the second half to jump out to their biggest lead of the game, 53-37, with 9:43 left in the game, on Montgomery's second straight three-pointer.
However, the Colonials sliced the deficit to nine points (53-44) with 7:22 left and all the way to one (57-56) with 56 seconds to play.
CSU did not hit a field goal after Montgomery's three pointer, but hit 9-of-10 free throws to maintain the lead.
Tim Kamczyc hit 5-of-6 in the final minute and also came up with a key defensive rebound after RMU missed a shot that could have cut the Viking lead to one.
The Vikings finished 23-of-29 (.793) at the free throw line.
Cleveland State is back in action on Saturday (Dec. 10) when the Vikings host Akron at 2:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. It will be CSU's first home game since a win over St. Bonaventure on Nov. 18.
Saturday's contest is being dubbed "Championship Saturday" with the men's basketball team raising the 2011 Horizon League Championship and 2011 NIT banners to the rafters. In addition, the 2011 Horizon League Champion men's golf and men's tennis teams will be honored.
The first 2,000 fans in attendance on Saturday will receive a free Backyard Battle t-shirt.
