Dec. 28, 2012
Contact: Greg Murphy
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State had four players in double figures and used a strong second half to claim a 79-59 win over Rio Grande on Friday night at the Wolstein Center.
The Viking improved to 8-5 this season, while Rio Grande slipped to 4-10.
CSU also improved to 5-0 at home this season and extended its win streak in the Wolstein Center to seven straight dating to last season.
Charlie Lee and Marlin Mason paced the Vikings with 14 points each, while Tim Kamczyc and Bryn Forbes scored 11 apiece. For Forbes, it was his sixth double figure scoring game in the last seven contests.
Lee dished out nine assists, one shy of tying his career high, as the Vikings handed out 22 assists on their 29 baskets. Forbes added four assists, while Kamczyc had three.
Sebastian Douglas added eight points and three steals for CSU.
The Vikings, who led by three at the half (35-32), outscored the Red Storm, 44-27, in the final 20 minutes.
"We needed something like this to get out of the rough game we had Sunday and get us back on track," head coach Gary Waters said. "We played hard today. One of the things we didn't do a lot of today was press. We wanted to play solid defense and get better defensively and we finally held a team under 40-percent from the field and that's what we're looking to do."
CSU raced out to a 19-11 lead midway through the first half, but a 15-6 run by the Red Storm allowed them to take a 26-25 lead on a Karl Moore layup with 4:36 to play in the half. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half until a Kamczyc three-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in the half gave the Vikings a 35-32 lead at the half.
It was just the third time all season that the Vikings went into the locker room with the lead.
CSU wasted little time in breaking open the game in the second half, using a 21-7 run over the first 13 minutes to assume a 17 point lead (56-39 ) with 13 minutes to play. The Vikings used four three-pointers in the run, including two by Lee.
The Red Storm would not get within 12 the rest of the night as CSU extended the lead to as many as 24 points late in the second half.
CSU shot better than 50-percent from the field for the fifth time this season, hitting 29-of-56 (.518), including 9-of-20 (.450) from three-point. The Vikings also held Rio Grande to just .351 (20-57) shooting from the floor, just the second opponent to shoot under 40-percent against CSU this year.
The Vikings forced 21 turnovers which they turned into 25 points and used a 19-4 advantage in fast break points. Both teams finished with 35 rebounds.
The Vikings are back in action on Wednesday (Jan. 2) when CSU hosts Kent State at 6:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
Postgame Notes
• The Vikings improved to 5-0 at home this season and have won seven straight in the Wolstein Center dating back to last season.
• CSU improved to 3-0 all-time against Rio Grande, including an 87-56 win in the Wolstein Center last year. The Vikings also won, 40-35, during the 1932-33 season.
• After being held scoreless at Akron on Sunday (Dec. 23), sophomore Marlin Mason responded in a big way. He finished with 14 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.
• Bryn Forbes finished with 11 points and has now reached double figures in six of the last seven games. He has seven double figure scoring games this year.
• Charlie Lee finished with 14 points, nine assists and three steals. His nine assists were one shy of tying his career-high of 10 set against Bowling Green earlier this year. Lee, who hit 4-of-5 from three-point, committed just one turnover.
• The Vikings led at the half, 35-32, marking just the third time this season that CSU took a lead into the locker room. CSU is 3-0 in those games.
• CSU forced 21 turnovers which were turned into 25 points.
• The Vikings had 10 of its 11 players log at least 10 minutes tonight.
• CSU went 9-of-20 from three-point, extending its streak of making at least one three-pointer to 447 straight games. The last time the Vikings failed to make a three-pointer came on Feb. 21, 1998, when CSU was 0-for-8 against Detroit.
