Feb. 15, 2006
Contact: Brian McCann
FAIRBORN, Ohio -- Carlos English led four Vikings in double figures with 18 points and CSU shot 86-percent from the foul line in the second half as the Vikings snapped a six-game losing streak with a 63-56 win at Wright State.
The Vikings (9-15, 5-9), now 4-4 on the road in Horizon League play, used a total team effort to upend the Raiders (12-12, 8-6), who entered the contest having won four of their last five games.
Playing without Raheem Moss, Renard Fields and Bahaad Russell, who did not make the trip because of illness and family matters, CSU played a season-low nine players, with six seeing more than 20 minutes of action.
The win was a total team effort as just five Vikings scored in the contest.
Victor Morris added 15 points, including a six-for-seven effort from the foul line, with Ije Nwankwo adding 13 points, J'Nathan Bullock 10 points and Patrick Tatham chipping in with seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
DaShaun Wood led Wright State with 25 points, going 11-for-24 from the field.
"Tonight's game is a perfect example of what this team is capable of doing when it plays as a team," head coach Mike Garland said. "Although we struggled a bit offensively in the first half, we stuck to our game plan and every thing worked out.
"It isn't too late for this team. We may have given away our chance to win the regular season league title, but the league tournament is about two weeks away and if we can continue to play together as a team, anything is possible in the tournament.
"This is a very hard league to compete in, especially on the road, yet we have managed to win four league road games. That speaks well to what we are capable of doing. Now all we need to do is get the team to realize that and the everything is possible.
English, who had scored just two points in the losses to Butler and UW-Milwaukee last week, ran the point to perfection, making five of his eight field goal attempts and seven of his eight free throws to post his highest scoring total since a 23-point effort at UW-Milwaukee on Jan. 2.
"Carlos decided to be a point guard tonight," Garland said. "He took great shots that came in the flow of the offense. More importantly, he distributed the ball well and was able to get it inside to Ije and J'Nathan.
After trailing for almost all of the first 20 minutes, the Vikings turned their effort around at the start of the second half. William Graham gaveWright State a 31-23 with 18:53 left in the game when he scored the opening basket of the second half.
CSU came right back, running off the next seven straight points to close to within 31-30 with 15:22 left.
Wright State would hold the Vikings off for another three minutes, until Morris put CSU ahead, 35-33 with 12:15 left on a three-point play in transition after making a steal.
The Raiders fought back to take a 36-35 lead on a Drew Burleson free throw with 11:17 left, but Nwankwo scored in the lane and Tatham followed with a tip-in basket to give the Vikings the lead for good.
The Wright State offense would struggle after that. The Raiders shot 51.9 percent from the field in the first half but could manage just 40 percent after the break.
CSU took advantage of every missed shot, running off eight straight points, including a three-pointer by Morris with 3:41 left that put CSU ahead, 53-42.
Wright State would fight back, but CSU refused to open the door for a comenback, making 11 of its 12 free throws in the final four minutes to salt the win away.
"One of the side affects of playing as a team is that when we finally fought back to take the lead, we refused to give it back," Garland said.
CSU had a 33-29 lead on the boards, with Tatham grabbing 11 rebounds, Nwankwo seven and Bullock six.
The Vikings, who entered the game ranking last in the Horizon League in free throw shooting, was 25-of-32 from the stripe for the game (.781), including 19-for-22 in the second half (.864). Wright State was just seven-for-14 from the line.
The Raiders controlled play during the first 20 minutes. CSU led once, taking a 1-0 advantage just 51 seconds into the contest when Patrick Tatham made one of two free throws.
William Graham and Wood scored back-to-back baskets for Wright State to allow the Raiders to pull ahead, 4-1, but Nwankwo came back with a three-point play to even the game at 4-4.
WSU then ran off six straight points to take a 10-4 lead as the Vikings offensive struggles led to a three-for-15 shooting effort by CSU over the first 10 minutes.
The Raiders would lead by as many as eight (14-6 with 9:21 left) before English snapped CSU out of the offensive drought, running off nine straight Vikings points to pull CSU to 18-15 with 5:39 left.
The Vikings could come no closer down the stretch as Wood finished with 12 first half points to allow the Raiders to take a 29-23 lead into the locker room.
The Vikings conclude the regular season with three straight home games, starting with a Saturday (Feb. 18) match-up with Delaware that was set up as part of the BracketBusters pool. The game will tip off at 5:30 p.m. in the Wolstein Center and be preceded by the Viking women's basketball team facing Loyola beginning at 3:00 p.m.
