Dec. 19, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
CLEVELAND - Playing short-handed both on the court and on the bench, Chicago State rallied from an 11-point deficit with 5:47 remaining in regulation to force overtime, as the Cougars went on to knock off Cleveland State in overtime, 82-77, on Tuesday night in the Wolstein Center.
The loss offset a career night from CSU's Raheem Moss, who tallied personal-bests of 28 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double.
The Vikings fall to 5-8 with their fifth straight defeat - and second consecutive overtime heartbreaker, while Chicago State improves to 5-9.
Joe Davis added 12 for the Vikings, while Patrick Tatham tallied 11 points and eight rebounds. J'Nathan Bullock led all players with 12 rebounds.
Aaron Williams led five Cougars in double-figures with 22 points, while Kortney Calvin notched 14 points and 10 boards.
Chicago State converted 15 CSU turnovers into 22 points, while committing just 10 miscues themselves.
"This was another game that we should have won," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "Our kids are going to go home for the break knowing that they gave two games away.
"When you're up 10 in the second half, you have to find ways to put opponents away, especially when you're playing at home. Instead, we turned the ball over three straight times and they converted them into a couple of three-point plays to climb back into the game."
Due to an incident on Saturday at Michigan State, Chicago State was without head coach Kevin Jones Sr., starter Cam Ron Clay and role players Kevin Jones Jr. and Tony Mane.
Trailing 65-54 and seemingly dead in the water with 5:47 left in the game, the Cougars responded with a 14-0 jaunt to claim a three-point advantage (68-66) at the 5:47 mark.
Davis ended the run with a twisting lay-up and Bullock put CSU back up with a pair of free throws. After a Williams free throw knotted the score at 69-69 with 1:02 remaining, both teams failed to convert down the stretch as the Vikings headed to overtime for the second consecutive game.
The Cougars seized control quickly in the extra period, sandwiching a Calvin jumper and a three-point play by David Holston around a CSU free throw to lead 74-70 midway through the overtime period.
Chicago State didn't allow the Vikings to get any closer than two the rest of the way as it knocked down 6-of-9 from the free throw line down the stretch to pull out the win.
Down 8-4 early in the game, the Cougars used a 16-5 run over the next eight minutes to take a 20-13 advantage at the midway point of the stanza. The Vikings aided the burst by going 2-for-11 from the floor while committing six turnovers.
Moss broke the run with a triple at the 9:32 mark to trim the deficit to 20-16 and then proceeded to knock down another three while adding an old-fashioned three-point play and a pair of free throws in a three-minute span to put CSU up 25-22.
Chicago State battled back to take a 31-30 lead with 1:56 remaining only to have the Vikings respond with a 7-0 burst to close out the half. Bahaadar Russell started things off with a jumper, English tallied three straight points and Moss capped off the skein with a dunk to finish the stanza with 19 points.
After a short break for the holidays, the Vikings resume their three-game homestand on Wednesday, Dec. 27 with a 7:00 p.m. contest with UIC.
