Dec. 1, 2007
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Five Vikings scored in doubles figures and the Vikings shot a season-best .560 from the field as CSU led from start to finish in a 107-51 victory over Geneva College on Saturday night in the Wolstein Center.
The 107 points marked the first time that CSU went over the 100-point mark since scoring 109 points in a win over Milwaukee on January 29, 2000.
CSU improves to 5-3 on the year while Geneva falls to 3-3.
"Our goal coming into this series of three games was to get better every game," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "This is the first one and I think that we accomplished our goal. Hopefully, the second and the third will turn out the same way.
"I wasn't happy with how we finished up that game last week (John Carroll) because that should have been about an 18-point win."
"Our focus tonight was trying to shut down certain things and we were able to do that. They (Geneva) shot just 29-percent from three-point which is what we want to do defensively in this program."
"I think that we are getting back to what we're capable of doin," Waters added.
The game was never close as Cleveland State rattled off the first 11 points of the game to open up a comfortable lead. Geneva was able to cut the lead to six on several occasions, but a 13-0 run to end the first half pushed the CSU lead to 49-26 at the break and the Vikings would slowly pull away after that.
Cleveland State used its defense to jump start its offense, making a season-high 16 steals, forcing 28 Golden Tornadoe turnovers and turning them into 43 points. The Vikings had 22-0 edge in fastbreak points and led 24-6 in second chance points.
Joe Davis came off the bench to lead CSU in scoring with a career-high 20 points. Davis, who played a team-high 26 minutes, made nine of his 15 field goal attempts in besting his previous career high of 19 points set against George Mason on Nov. 11, 2006, his first collegiate game.
J'Nathan Bullock, Cedric Jackson and Chris Moore added 13 points each while Norris Cole also set a career-best with 12 points. Moore led the Vikings on the boards with eight with Bullock adding seven and Davis and Kevin Francis making six each.
"This was a great game for our bench," Waters said. "We've been looking for an opportunity to get Norris (Cole) and D'Aundray (Brown) and the rest of the second unit extended minutes because they need to play to get better. Some of what you saw from them today is an indication of how much they have improved since the start of the year. As they get better, we will get better as a tean."
Shooting a season-best .560 from the field (42-75), which included seven three-pointers, the Vikings continually knocked down the open shot, many of which came in transition. All 11 Vikings played at least 11 minutes in the contest
CSU dominated in just about every statistical category. The Vikings had a 45-23 lead on the boards, grabbing a season-best 21 offensive rebounds.
Cleveland State turned the ball over just 12 times in the contest, the last coming on a shot clock violation with four seconds left that came after Waters ordered Cole to hold the ball instead of shooting.
The Viking freshmen turned in an impressive performance. Cole, who had struggled offensively in the first seven games, found his touch, making five of his eight field goal attempts while handing out two assists and making four steals.
D'Aundray Brown, who has shown improvement in his scoring total as the season has progressed, scored five points and handed out a career-high four assists.
The Vikings continue their non-conference schedule on Tuesday night (Dec. 4) when CSU plays an 8:00 p.m. game at Chicago State.
