Dec. 4, 2007
Contact: Brian McCann
CHICAGO, Ill.-- Joe Davis scored 18 points and Chris Moore added a career-high 17 and eight rebounds as Cleveland State used a fastbreak offensive attack and strong perimeter defense to upend Chicago State, 77-73 on Tuesday night in the Jones Convocation Center.
J'Nathan Bullock added 14 points for the Vikings while David Holston (19 points) and John Cantrell (17) points led the Cougars.
The win improves the Vikings to 6-3 on the season while Chicago State drops to 3-7.
On a day in which leading scorer Cedric Jackson was held to a season-low six points, the rest of the Viking offense picked him up. Jackson did have a game-high eight assists and a pair of steals and proved to be instrumental in holding the lead down the stretch.
Although Cleveland State never trailed after the intermission, the Vikings were never comfortable either as Chicago State had an opportunity to tie the game at 76-76 but Steve Martin's three-pointer was off the mark
Norris Cole cleared the rebound for CSU and made the first of two free throws to put the game away.
Chicago State got out of the blocks quickly, opening up an 11-6 lead just 4:13 into the contest.
Cleveland State countered with seven straight points from Davis, including a three-pointer with 13:59 left that tied the game at 13-13.
Christian Wall and Cantrell followed with baskets for the Cougars to give Chicago State a 17-13 lead with 12:51 left.
The Vikings defense would step up, holding the home team scoreless for almost five minutes to race to a 25-17 lead with 8:13 left.
Norris Cole keyed the run, making four free throws to start it and then feeding Davis on a basket in transition. When Davis scored inside off a nice pass from D'Audray Brown, Cleveland State had run off 12 straight points.
The lead was short-lived however as the Cougars rallied to even the score at 29-29 with 5:23 left on a basket in the lane by Cantrell. Chicago State then made the rally complete, taking leads of 33-31 and 35-33 following baskets by Tawrence Walton and Carl Montgomery,
The rest of the half belonged to Cleveland State as a three-point play by Moore, a basket inside from Bullock and a foul line jumper by Jackson gave the Vikings a 40-36 lead at the break.
Davis and Moore combined to score the first 15 points of the second half for the Vikings. Moore scored four nearly identical baskets inside, the last coming with 15:06 left to give the Vikings a 48-44 lead. Davis followed with seven straight points of his own, the last giving the Vikings a 55-46 edge with 11:07 left.
The rest of the match resembled a prize fight with both sides standing toe-to-toe and taking the best shots of their opponents.
Chicago State pulled to within 72-69 on a free throw by Mike Wilson with 1:04 left, but Bullock quickly answered with a followup basket to extend the lead back tofive.
Chicago cut the CSU lead to 74-71 with 36 seconds left on a basket inside by Christian Wall but Bullock was fouled on the ensuing possession and made both free throws to push the lead back to five (76-71). Bullock went six-for-six from the line to improve to 42-for-46 this year.
Two free throws by Halston pulled the Cougars to within a basket and after Davis turned the ball over on the next possession, Chicago State had a chance to tie but Martin's three-pointer from the right side was short.
The Vikings return home this week to start a three-game home stand that will take CSU through the holiday break. CSU opens the stretch on Saturday, Dec. 8 when it hosts Youngstown State at 5:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The game, which is the Horizon League opener, will be Viking bobblehead night with the first 1,000 fans receiving a free bobblehead of the new mascot, Magnus, courtesy of SportsTime Ohio.
