Dec. 29, 2007
Contact: Brian McCann
Kent, Ohio -- Maybe the Vikings should have stayed in bed on Saturday.
As head coach Gary Waters told the media following an 84-69 loss at Kent State, the Vikings just didn't have it for its annual battle with CSU's northeast Ohio rival.
And, unfortunately for Waters who was making his return to the school where he made his name as a head coach, Kent State did have it.
"I knew early in the game that it just wasn't going to be our night," Waters said. "We seemed to lack energy and for the first time this year, we just weren't making the plays that we have all season long.
"I'm not taking anything away from Kent State because they beat us in just about every phase of the game, but I'm disappointed that we didn't compete better. That's not like us because even when we were over-matched against Ohio State, we came out and played hard.
"I told the guys after the game that I wasn't going to rip them but that with the league schedule starting up again next week, we can't afford to play like this anymore," Waters said.
The opening minutes of the contest told the story as the Vikings (8-5) seemed to be running uphill all night long.
CSU found J'Nathan Bullock on the blocks in each of its first two possessions but the high-scoring junior had his shot blocked on both possessions.
Kent State (10-2) on the other hand had everything go its way on the offensive end of the floor as Mike Scott and Al Fisher each connected on three-pointers and Haminn Quaintance scored on a dunk to give the Golden Flashes an 8-0 lead at the 18:02 mark.
It was all downhill from there for the Vikings as Kent State opened up a 50-27 lead at the half and it wasn't until the final minute of the game before CSU could trim the deficit to under 20 points, ending the contest on a 12-1 run to make the final margin just 15 points.
Cedric Jackson and Joe Davis led the Vikings with 12 points each, but Jackson played just 22 minutes before becoming the first CSU player this year to foul out, doing so with 11:15 left when he picked up his fourth and fifth fouls in succession. The fourth came for reaching for a loose ball. The fifth quickly followed when he was assessed a technical foul for questioning the call.
D'Aundray Brown came off the bench to score a career-high 10 points with six rebounds and junior Nick Weaver, who has seen sporadic playing time through the first 12 games, scored eight points, making both of his three-point attempts, in the final three minutes of the contest.
Scott and Quaintance led four Kent State players in double figures with 17 points each while Fisher added 15 points and 10 assists and Chris Singletary scored 11 points.
The offensive difference in the game came around the perimeter as Kent State shot .500 from three-point (11-22) while the Vikings could manage just four-for-17 shooting (.235) from beyond the arc.
The two teams combined to commit 48 fouls and shoot 73 free throws. Kent State was just 19-for-38 from the charity stripe (.500) while CSU was slightly better, making 21 of its 35 free throws (.600).
The Vikings have little time to regroup, resuming Horizon League play with a pair of home contests next week. CSU hosts Loyola on Thursday (Jan. 3) and UIC on Saturday (Jan. 5) with each game starting at 7:30 p.m.
