Jan. 28, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The offensive woes continued for Cleveland State as the Vikings could manage just 19-percent shooting in the second half, allowing Youngstown State to escape with a 68-63 victory in the Wolstein Center.
Quin Humphrey, the Horizon League's leading scorer who managed just nine points in a 63-50 CSU victory in Youngstown two weeks ago, scored 18 of his game-high 29 points in the second half to lead the Penguins. Keston Roberts added 16 points, including 10 in the second half.
The loss, CSU's second straight in the Horizon League, dropped the Vikings to 8-11 on the year and 4-5 in league play. Youngstown State improved to 7-12 overall and 4-5 in the league.
The Vikings were led by the trio of Ije Nwankwo (13 points, 8 rebounds), Raheem Moss (12 points, nine rebounds) and J'Nathan Bullock (10 points).
"You have to make shots," head coach Mike Garland said. "The way we are shooting right now, we can't afford to have any defensive lapses, especially like we did out of the box tonight.
"We had point-blank shots tonight and there is no excuse for not making them. We spend a lot of time on shooting in practice, but our shots just aren't falling.
"You have to give some credit to Quin (Humphrey) because he really made some tough shots tonight. We frustrated him terribly in our first meeting two weeks ago and I am sure that his performance in that game was on his mind. He was exceptional tonight."
The Vikings maintained the lead for most of the first 30 minutes of the game until an eight-minute shooting slump in the second half turned the game in the Penguins' favor.
CSU took a 50-46 lead on a three-pointer by Luke Murphy with 13:09 left. But as they have done on several occasions at home this year, the Vikings missed all 10 field goal attempts and turned the ball over six times during the next nine minutes, allowing Youngstown State to build its largest lead of the night, a 58-51 advantage with 5:25 left.
The Vikings would trim the lead to three on several occasions but wouldn't have a chance to tie the game until the final minute.
Carlos English pulled CSU to within 66-63 with 1:41 left and the Vikings would get the ball back with 1:05 left following a missed three-pointer by John Barber.
The CSU offense would again disappear as the Vikings missed all 10 of its shots in the final minute, including a potential game-tying three-pointer by Moss with 21 seconds left, three subsequent put-backs following offensive rebounds on the same possession and a three-point attempt by English with nine seconds left.
Mike Adams finally cleared the rebound for YSU with seven seconds left, putting the game away with two free throws after being immediately fouled.
Cleveland State had a 43-33 lead on the board. The Vikings had 20 offensive rebounds, but could turn them into just 11 second chance points.
CSU turned the ball over 19 times with the Penguins making 17 steals, the most by a Horizon League team this year.
Nothing was decided in the first half as the two teams combined to shoot .566 from the field (30-53), including six-of-12 from three-point (.500), to finish the first 20 minutes tied at 38-38.
The first half did feature five ties and eight lead changes with neither team leading by more than five points.
The offense withered after the break as the two teams combined to shoot .250 in the second half (15-of-60), including just five-of23 from three-point (.217).
Cleveland State, which is now just 1-4 in Horizon League action at home and 3-1 on the road, takes back to the road for three straight games. The Vikings play at Detroit on Thursday (Feb. 2) and at Loyola on Saturday (Feb. 4).
