Feb. 7, 2008

Final Stats |  Quotes |  Notes

Contact: Brian McCann

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Vikings fell by a score of 55-49 to Horizon League rival Wright State in a battle of second place teams Thursday evening at the Wolstein Center. The loss snaps an eight-game home winning streak for the Vikings.

With the loss, the Vikings drop to 14-10 (7-5 HL), while Wright State improves to 16-6 (8-4 HL). The Vikings drop to third place in the Horizon League, and have now lost five straight games after opening the season with a 7-0 league mark. The Raiders now have sole possession of second place in the Horizon League.

"It was a hard fought game," CSU head coach Gary Waters said, "Their statistics were about the same as the first time we played them. Right now, we are not doing offensively what I want them to do. We're missing every open shot we get. They played us in a zone and made us shoot the basketball. We didn't execute the way we needed to. I think we can come back, but we need to make adjustments and do a better job."

Despite the fact that CSU managed to keep the score close for the majority of the game, Wright State held the Vikings to their second-lowest point total of the season. The Vikings' lowest scoring output of the season came against George Mason, a 56-47 loss on Nov. 13. Meanwhile, Wright State's 55 points was the lowest offensive output by a Viking opponent during CSU's current losing streak.

"They only had 55 points and shot a great percentage (48.8% on 21-for-43 shooting)," Waters said, "What we didn't do is take advantage of them on offense and part of that is on me. We're just not hitting shots right now and had a rough day today."

The Vikings were held to 33.9% on field goals on 19-of-56 shooting in the game as they were unable to translate their relative success on the defensive end to the offensive end of the floor.

The Raiders led the game from start to finish. This comes in stark contrast to the last meeting between CSU and Wright State (Jan. 12, 2008), a game that included six ties and 11 lead changes, eventually culminating in a 65-63 last-second CSU win.

Wright State started very fast, opening up a 15-2 lead by the 15:07 mark following a three-pointer by Cooper Land. Despite the fast start by WSU, the Vikings did not call a timeout to try to halt the Raiders' momentum, but got one anyway as a media timeout was called at the 14:40 mark. The Vikings then proceeded to go on a 12-2 run of their own to close the gap to one, 15-14.

"We never thought we were out of the game because we weren't hitting anything," Waters said, "The start of a game never phases me. It's the beginning of the second half and the end of the game that I want us to take control of and we didn't take control of either one."

That would be the closest the Vikings would get in game, as Wright State. A strong shooting performance (11-for-23, 47.8% shooting) by the Raiders led Wright State to a 30-24 first half lead.

In the second half, both teams scored 25 points each as the Raiders maintained their six-point lead through the final buzzer. Despite winning the overall rebound battle, 34-30, the Vikings were not able to overcome a 33.9% team shooting percentage.

Cleveland State was led in defeat by D'Aundray Brown, who celebrated his first career start by matching his career high point total (10 points) on 5-for-7 shooting. He also added two steals and four rebounds. The victorious Raiders were led by Todd Brown and Vaughn Duggins, who each scored 12 points.

"We did not play very well at all today," Waters said, "I am very displeased with our performance. We gave everybody a little treat at the beginning of the year, and we still have a long way to go. This is the first time they are facing a little bit of adversity and they have a lot of issues that they are dealing with now."

The Vikings continue their current home stand on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. against league rival Detroit-Mercy at the Wolstein Center.