Nov. 27, 2004
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND -- Modibo Niakate scored a career-high 31 points, including 26 in the second half, as Cleveland State improved to 2-0 on the short season with a 79-47 win over Norfolk State in the Convocation Center.
The Vikings ran away with the game from the start, opening the contest with an 11-0 run over the first 5:38 of the game and never leading by less than five points the rest of the way.
After the Spartans had closed to within 16-11 with 10:15 left in the half, the Vikings answered with 10 straight points, six of which came on back-to-back treys by Raheem Moss.
Norfolk State would battle back, closing to 35-26 at the intermission, before CSU answered with another scoring burst, an 11-0 spurt over the first 7:56 of the second half to build a 46-26 advantage.
The afternoon belonged to Niakate, who earlier in the week found out that his athletic eligibility at CSU would run out in mid-January. The senior dominated offensively, connecting on 12-of-15 field goals in recording the first 30-point game by a Viking since Omari Westley errupted for 30 points against Loyola last year.
"Modibo has responded to the bad news in a tremendous way," head coach Mike Garland said. "He has really grown up. He is lending us the opportunity to let Steve Gansey grow up on the job so that he is ready to fill the scoring role in January.
Niakate, who ranked second in the Horizon League with a .444 three-point shooting percentage in 2002-03, connected on five-of-seven three-pointers to improbe his three-point shooting to .667 this year (6-9). His 26-point second half was the fifth-highest single half total in school history and the most since Damon Stringer tallied 28 points against UW-Milwaukee on Jan. 29, 2000.
Lost in the Niakate offensive exploits was the play of the Viking defense, which limited the Spartans to just .375 shooting from the field and forced 26 turnovers. The Vikings made 14 steals, the most under Mike Garland, while turning the ball over just 12 times.
"I know that Niakate had a tremendous offensive game and everybody loves that, but this game was won on the defensive end of the floor," Garland said. "We struggled a bit offensively in the first half and during the opening minutes of the second half, but because we played good, solid defense, we were able to play through the dry spells.
"We defended pretty well last year, but because we didn't score many baskets, it never carried itself over to allow us to put pressure on our opponents.
"I just love the way our guys came out and accepted the defensive challenge that I put out in front of them," Garland added.
Moss came off the bench to score 12 points, part of a 50 point effort by the Viking bench, while Omari Westley added 10 points and 13 rebounds, his 13th career double-double and second this season.
Calvin Brown led Norfolk State, which dropped to 0-2, with nine points and nine rebounds
The 47 points was the fewest points allowed by CSU since a 57-34 win over UW-Milwaukee on Jan. 27, 2001, 98 games ago.
FREE THROWS: Walt Chavis handed out seven assists for the second straight game, allowing him to move past Ron Harris (183 assists) and into 10th place on the CSU career list with 285 assists. . . CSU took 26 more shots than NSU (66-40) and made almost twice as many field goals (29-16). . . the 32-point margin of victory was the largest for a CSU team since the Vikings routed Prairie View A&M, 90-53 on Dec. 22, 2001. . . the 14 steals surpassed the 2003-04 season high of 11 thefts accomplished in three different games. . . with 21 assists and just 12 turnovers, CSU had a positive assist-to-turnover margin for only the third time in 31 games under Garland. . . CSU tied the school record for three-pointers in a game with 12.
