Feb. 18, 2012
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Trey Harmon scored a game-high 23 points, but Drexel used a strong run to start the game and earned a 69-49 win over Cleveland State on Saturday in a BracketBusters X contest.
Harmon, who scored a career-high 27 points on Tuesday night in Milwaukee, hit five three-pointers, one shy of tying his career-high. It also moved him within one three-pointer of becoming the third player in school history to make 200 trifectas in a career.
CSU fell to 20-8 overall, while Drexel won for the 15th straight time, improving to 23-5.
The Dragons came into the game ranked fifth in the nation in scoring defense and held CSU to .270 (17-63) shooting from the field and .250 (7-28) from three-point.
"Drexel did a good job physically and I didn't think our guys responded as well as I wanted them to respond to the physicality," head coach Gary Waters said. "Drexel is a good team. They're worthy to be an NCAA tournament team. They're good at both ends and they're physical.
"We have to find the right group of guys to get it right. We've tried some combinations and they haven't worked. We're not going to quit - we're going to keep fighting until we get it right."
Drexel raced out to a quick 19-3 lead less than eight minutes into the game, hitting six of its first eight shots from the field. On the other end, the Vikings made just one of their first 10 field goals.
"The slow starts at home puzzle me," Waters said "We have good practices. We took our first two shots and missed both and then we clutched up. Right now, we don't have enough guys producing for us. We're not scoring, but I don't think we have a whole lot of other options offensively. We need to hit our shots. We're working on stuff to get open shots, but we need to hit our shots. What should stay consistent in the way we defend."
Back-to-back three-pointers from Jeremy Montgomery and Harmon cut the CSU deficit to eight points (23-15) with 6:12 left in the first half, but seven straight points from the Dragons built the lead back to 15 points (30-15) with 4:13 to play.
The lead would remain double figures the rest of the afternoon.
Tim Kamczyc finished with seven points and five rebounds, while Anton Grady chipped in six points and eight boards.
Drexel shot .489 (22-45) from the field and 6-of-17 (.353) from three-point. The also had a 39-34 advantage on the glass, grabbing 10 offensive boards that led to 11 second chance points.
CSU did manage 18 offensive rebounds, scoring 15 second chance points.
Both teams protected the basketball with the Vikings committing a season-low six turnovers and Drexel making just seven.
CSU is back in action on Tuesday (Feb. 21) night when the Vikings head to Green Bay for an 8:00 p.m. EST contest. It will be the first of three games in six days in the final week of the regular season.
Postgame Notes
• Today was the first-ever meeting between Cleveland State and Drexel in men's basketball.
• Freshman Marlin Mason made his first career start. Mason was slated to redshirt this season, but it came off when he was forced into action against UIC on Jan. 5, due to injuries to players on the roster.
• Mason became the ninth different player to start a game for the Vikings this year. Today's combination of Jeremy Montgomery, Trey Harmon, Mason, Tim Kamczyc and Aaron Pogue was the fifth different starting lineup used by CSU this year. Last year, the Vikings were one of three teams to start the same lineup in every game.
• The Vikings are now 4-5 in BracketBusters games. CSU fell to Eastern Michigan in 2004 and at Central Michigan in 2005. The Vikings beat Delaware in 2006, Cal State Northridge in 2007 and Marist in 2008. After falling at Wichita State in 2009, CSU defeated Toledo in 2010 before falling at Old Dominion last year.
• Today's game marked the 199th career game at CSU as head coach for Gary Waters. He will coach his 200th career game for the Vikings on Tuesday (Feb. 21) at Green Bay.
• Trey Harmon finished with 23 points, going 5-of-12 from three-point. He now has 199 career three-pointers, one shy of becoming the third player in CSU history with 200 career three-pointers (James Madison, 262; Jeremy Montgomery, 202).
• Harmon's five three-pointers were one shy of equaling his career-high of six set against UIC (1/7/12).
• Harmon was coming off a career-high 27 point effort at Milwaukee on Tuesday (Feb. 14) night and averaged 25.0 points in CSU's two games this week.
• The Vikings were without senior D'Aundray Brown (groin) for the fourth time in the last five games.
