Feb. 22, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland State head coach Mike Garland could only shake his head as he tried to figure out what went wrong in the Vikings 72-67 overtime loss to UIC on Wednesday night in the Wolstein Center.
After all, when CSU went to the locker room at halftime leading 34-22, Garland and his Vikings appeared to be in total control of the game. They had just turned in their best 20 minutes of the season, shooting 52-percent from the field and frustrating the Flames defensively into 37-percent shooting and 10 first half turnovers.
But the tempo of the game changed in the opening minutes of the second half as the Flames used an 18-6 run to pull even at 40-40 with 13 minutes left.
"There is no question that we won the first half and they won the second half," Garland said. "We came out after halftime and played with no energy and that allowed the momentum to change to UIC's favor. We were never able to take control after that.
"We did exactly what we wanted to do in the first half. We worked the ball inside to our big men and took advantage of some excellent scoring opportunities. Those same opportunities came in the second half but we just couldn't get those shots to fall.
No stretch characterized the Vikings struggles any better than the final 12 seconds of regulation when CSU five shots that could have won it for them in regulation. Nwankwo started by having his baseline jumper blocked out of bounds by Justin Bowen.
With two seconds left on the shot clock, the Vikings lobbed the inbounds to Bullock at the basket but the pass was off the mark. Bullock managed to get an off-balance to glance off the rim. Nwankwo rebounded, passing to Victor Morris at the foul line but Morris couldn't connect with three seconds left.
Patrick Tatham put-back was off the mark and he gathered it in again but couldn't connect on a short fade-away as time expired, sending the game to overtime.
The Flames owned the extra session as Othyus Jeffers scoring six points during an 8-1 UIC run to open overtime allowing UIC to take control. The Viking offense continued to struggle in overtime, making just three of their 12 field goal attempts (.250).
UIC would extend the lead to as many as nine, 68-59 with 43 seconds left, leaving CSU without enough time to mount a comeback.
"It is hard to play catch-up in this league, especially against a team like UIC that is used to playing tight games. They just didn't give us any opportunities," Garland said.
Danijel Zoric, who scored just four points against the Vikings in CSU's mid-January win at UIC, led the Flames with 18 points and eight rebounds. Jeffers added 14 points, Josh Mayo 13 points and Jovan Stefanov chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds.
J'Nathan Bullock led CSU with a career-high 25 points and eight rebounds. He scored 10 of the first 13 points of the game for the Vikings and finished by tallying nine of CSU's 10 points in overtime.
"J'Nathan had another outstanding game," Garland said. "It is hard to believe that he is only a freshman, but he is getting better and better with every game he played.
Despite being bothered by foul trouble, Ije Nwankwo recorded his first career double-double, totalling 12 points with a career-high 10 rebounds.
Led by the strong inside play of Bullock and Nwankwo, the Vikings dominated the first 20 minutes, never trailing.
Bullock started the game on fire, scoring 10 of CSU's first 13 points, the last two coming on a power lay-up inside that put the Vikings ahead, 13-10 with 10:49 left.
UIC would cut it to one-point on several occasions, the last coming on a Daniel Zoric jumper with 6:02 left that pulled UIC to within 15-14.
Patrick Tatham and Luke Murphy would follow with baskets inside to give CSU a 19-14 advantage with 4:58 left.
Following a Karl White layup that trimmed the lead to 19-16, Raheem Moss connected on a three-pointer from the left side and Victor Morris scored on an old-fashioned three-point play to push the Viking lead to 25-16 with 4:10 left.
UIC would stop the mini-run and close to within 28-20 on a Zoric field goal with 3:18 left, but CSU countered with six straight points - two each from Moss, Tatham and Nwankwo - to take its largest lead of the half, a 34-20 lead with 1:19 left.
The Flames would use their outside shooting to come back with May connecting on a pair of three-pointers and Bowen one during the comeback at the start of the second half.
UIC would eventually put out to a 53-49 lead with 5:00 left, but the Vikings had one more come back in them.
Frashon McGee started the Viking rally by scoring off the offensive glass and Bullock quickly followed with a three-point play that gave CSU a 54-53 lead.
The lead would blossom to four (57-53 with 1:47 left) when Bullock made one of two free throws and Morris added a pair of charity tosses.
The Vikings would not score again in regulation as the Flames used four free throws from Stefanov to force overtime.
The loss drops CSU into eighth place in the Horizon League with a 5-10 mark, one game ahead of Youngstown State (4-11). The Vikings, who can finish no higher than eighth, need either a win at home over UW-Green Bay on Saturday or a YSU home loss to Loyola to go into the tourney as the No. 8 seed. A CSU loss, combined with a Penguin win, would drop the Vikings to the No. 9 seed.
Cleveland State will play either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, but its opponent will not be determined until the final game on Saturday. Wright State (8-7) goes into the final day of league play with a one-game lead over the quartet of Detroit, UW-Green Bay, Loyola and UIC, all of whom are 7-8. The Vikings could play any of the five teams.
The Vikings have little time to regroup, closing the 2005-06 regular season at home against UW-Green Bay on Saturday (Feb. 25) beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
