Jan. 1, 2011

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By: Robert Ivory

CLEVELAND, Ohio-In their first New Year's Day game since the administration of Herbert Hoover, the Cleveland State Vikings started their 2011 on the right foot, defeating the UIC Flames, 83-59 Saturday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

"This was a strange kind of game for us," Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters said due to the New Year's Day game. "I thought our guys came out and mentally knew what we had to get done and that was on the defensive end."

"Last night was a tough night," Waters said. "We did not allow them to go out last night, so they knew that they had to come out and give their very best. We have to defend well, to play well and that's what I look at each and every night. "

The Vikings defense amassed a total of 24 UIC turnovers (to CSU's six) and stole the ball 15 times as Trevon Harmon and Norris Cole scored 24 and 21.

UIC was able to keep the Vikings to a 12-point lead at the half, but a 16-4 run over the first 4:19 of the second half guaranteed the Vikes their fourth straight Horizon League win of the year.

The Vikings were led by Trevon Harmon, who scored a game, season, and career-high 24 points, and went four of seven from three point land.

"When you are a shooter, you keep shooting," Harmon said. "Hard work pays off. Coach says if you keep shooting, it will pay off, and it came around today."

Harmon is also credited with his tough pressing defense, as he nabbed four steals.

Three Vikings scored in double figures including Harmon, Norris Cole, who added 21 points of his own (7-15), collecting six rebounds, six assists and six steals, and Jeremy Montgomery (13 points).

Harmon and Cole's 20-point games are the first time this season two players each have had 20-points plus totals, but the key was the ten steals between them.

"Our first priority is defense," Harmon said. "We know we can play defense, the offense will come."

Cleveland State's first win of 2011 improves them to 15-1 and 4-0 in Horizon League play.

The win is the first on New Year's Day in program history, with the last game coming on January 1, 1931, a riveting 29-27 loss to St. Mary's. The win also extends the 2010-11 edition of the Cleveland State Vikings' win streak to three games.

Pogue continued his weekend of dominance, after a career night against Loyola, as the big man got a Trevon Harmon pass and put up an acrobatically shot, hitting the basket, drawing the foul, then hitting the free throw and gave CSU a 6-0 lead early (17:25).

Pogue finished the night with three points, two steals, two blocks, and an assist.

The Vikings dominated the flow of the game and had the hot hand shooting from the get-go, as well as their continual stellar defense.

CSU was also aided by astounding three point shooting, hitting four of their first six, and by the play of Cole, whose defense moved UIC to just 1 of 6 shooting in the early going.

Trevon Harmon led the first half shooting 4-5 from beyond the arc, part of his game leading 13 points at the half.

Harmon's shooting was the best by the team, as CSU shot just 38.9 % in the half but finished 45.3% for the game.

"The positive thing about our team is that we don't have to shoot wellto play well," Waters said. "In the first half we shot 38% and we were up by 12 and we should have been up by 20."

After a Paul Cater free throw for UIC to make it a 9-3 game, Cole and Harmon went on a 13-7 over 2:23 to push CSU out to a 22-10 lead at the 12:42 mark. Cole collected a pair of dunks from turnovers, a jumper, and Harmon hit two threes (also included was a Montgomery free throw).

"It's always important to get momentum," Cole said. "Momentum can carry teams. We want to start well, get things started. When teams have to fight from behind, it's hard for teams to fight back. We feel that if we can get a team down, we can keep them down."

CSU led the battle of the turnovers 13-2 at the half, collection 11 points from the UIC miscues, Cole having three steals.

Cleveland State went nearly three minutes without a basket until Montgomery ran the lane, threw up an acrabatical layup, which was aided by a few kind bounces. In that time, UIC had a 7-1 run and got within six, at 23-17.

Montgomery's layup was followed by a Joe Latas jumper in the paint to resume their double-digit lead at 28-17 with 8:18 to play.

Joe Latas played a valuable nine first half minutes off the bench for the Vikings, got six points (3-4) and collected a pair of rebounds.

None was better than Latas' effort under the basket. With 2:05 left in the half, Latas collected the offensive rebound from a missed Tim Kamczyc three.

Latas missed the layup, got the rebound, put it up again with a slew of UIC defenders and got the layup to roll around the rim and fall, giving the Vikes a 37-25 lead with 1:57 left in the half.

"Joe is a big body," Waters said. "That's the one thing that Joe provides, size inside. It's not easy to get through him and it's not easy to get over him, too. When he hits a few buckets I'm cheering, too."

Cole would be fouled at midcourt with 4.7 seconds left, but as tripped by UIC's Dipanjot Singh. Cole went down hard on the floor and clutched his knee in pain. The senior was helped to the line by his teammates, sinked the free throws, giving the Vikings a 40-28 lead going into the half.

When Cole was asked about the knee after the game, he answered:

"I'm good, I'm good."

CSU trailed the battle on the glass, 20-19, at the half, as Kamczyc led the team with five and Cole had four.

Cleveland State took the first 1:37 to score the first nine out of ten points in the half and take their biggest lead to that point, 49-29 on a Montgomery three from the left-hand side.

Much like their encounter with Loyola just two days prior, CSU was able to use their bench in the second half and keep a comfortable lead.

A Harmon layup in the paint with 9:45 took CSU to a 24-point advantage, tying their biggest advantage on the night.

"Tre had a good game," Waters said. "When Tre is shooting the ball it's hard for teams to beat us."

Freshman Devon Long contributed six points in ten minutes, his second consecutive game with six points. The CSU bench scored a total of 20 points.

UIC falls to 5-10 and 0-3 in the Horizon League.

The Vikings next take to the road for a three-game swing. CSU has a business week to prepare for a Friday (Jan. 7) night encounter with the only other undefeated team in league play, the Butler Bulldogs. Tip is slated for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted on ESPNU.

CSU has a quick turnaround with a matchup at Valparaiso on Sunday (Jan. 9) starting at 1:35 p.m. and end their trip with a matchup with instate rivals Youngstown State on Jan 15.