Feb. 16, 2012
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GAME 28 - Sears BracketBusters X
--/rv Drexel (22-5) at Cleveland State (20-7)
Date: Saturday, February 18, 2012
Time: 11:00 a.m. EST
Location: Wolstein Center (8,500) - Cleveland, Ohio
Radio: WHKW 1220 AM (Cleveland) & WHKZ, 1440 AM (Warren) (Al Pawlowski)
TV: ESPNU (Adam Amin & Brooke Weisbrod)
Series: First Meeting
Last Mt'g: First Meeting
Tickets: $8, $10, $15, $25
SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State returns home to host Drexel at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday (Feb. 18) in a BracketBusters X contest that will be broadcast live on ESPNU. Adam Amin and Brooke Weisbrod will provide the commentary. The Vikings enter the contest at 20-7 overall and have lost three straight, including an 86-84 setback at Milwaukee on Tuesday (Feb. 14) night. Drexel is 22-5 overall and tied for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association at 14-2. The Dragons, who are receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll (11 total) enter the contest on a 14-game win streak with their last loss coming on Jan. 2 at Georgia State. Saturday's match-up will be the first-ever between the two schools.
ON THE ROAD: The Vikings have been proving their mettle away from home this season, posting a 12-4 record in those contests. CSU is 11-3 in "true" road games and 1-1 in neutral site contests. The 11 "true" road wins are tied for the most in the nation (Wagner), while CSU's 12 wins away from home are the second most in the country (Harvard & Iona have 13). The school-record for road wins in a season is 13, set in 2008-09. This year's 11 road victories rank second in school history, while CSU's .786 (11-3) road winning percentage is currently the best in school history.
VIKINGS RANKED 15th IN MID-MAJOR POLL: Cleveland State slipped five spots to No. 15 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 poll that was released on Monday (Feb. 13) afternoon. The Vikings earned 337 votes. CSU's opponent on Saturday, Drexel, is ranked 13th in the poll with 400 points.
VIKINGS GET 10 IN THE LEAGUE: CSU's two wins in Chicago (Feb. 3 &5) allowed the Vikings to clinch the fifth straight year of double digit wins in the Horizon League. It marks the first time in program history that the Vikings have won at least 10 league games in five straight seasons. The old mark was four straight, set from 1984-85 through 1987-88.
NCAA STATS: CSU was well represented in the NCAA statistical report that was released on Monday (Feb. 5). As a team, CSU is ranked 10th in scoring defense (57.7), 13th in steals (8.8), 23rd in three-point field goal defense (.295), 24th in turnover margin (3.2), 36th in won-lost percentage (.769) and 67th in scoring margin (7.7) and three-point field goal percentage (.367). D'Aundray Brown is ninth in the nation in steals (2.6).
20-20 VISION: CSU's win at UIC on Feb. 5 allowed the Vikings to clinch the ninth 20-win season in program history and the fourth in the last five seasons. Head coach Gary Waters claims four of the 20 win seasons in his six years at the helm. The 1985-86 Vikings set the record by winning 29 games, while last year's team won 27 games, second most in school history.
GRADY AS A STARTER: With senior D'Aundray Brown out three of the last four games with a groin injury, freshman Anton Grady has made three starts and has not disappointed in either one, including double-doubles against Valparaiso and Butler. In his three starts this year, Grady is averaging 13.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
... AND CONTINUES STRONG PLAY: Anton Grady has emerged as a strong frontrunner for Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year with his play this year. He is averaging 8.5 points, 6.1 rebounds (8th in league) and 1.4 blocked shots (5th in league), while ranking third in the league in field goal percentage (.564). Grady has upped those numbers to 10.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in Horizon League contests, scoring in double figures in 10 of the 14 league games. He also has four double-doubles in his last seven games.
HARMON SCORES CAREER HIGH: Trey Harmon scored a career-high 27 points in Tuesday's loss at Milwaukee, besting his old career-high of 24 points set on multiple occasions. Harmon made 8-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-8 from three-point. He also hit 7-of-8 at the free throw line. The 27 points were the most points by a CSU player this year and the most since Norris Cole had 35 points in a setback at Old Dominion in a BracketBuster game last year (2/20/11).
WELCOME HOME, CHARLIE: Charlie Lee enjoyed his homecoming on Tuesday night. A native of Milwaukee, Wis., Lee impressed the home crowd, scoring a career-high 14 points with two assists. He was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, hitting his lone three-pointer, and made all three of his free throws.
60 PERCENT OR BETTER: The Vikings shot .609 (28-46) from the field in Tuesday's loss at Milwaukee, the third time that CSU shot better than 60-percent from the floor this year. All have come in the last seven contests. It was also the ninth time this year that the Vikings shot better than 50-percent from the field in a game and the first time CSU lost.
FREE TOSSES: One quick look at CSU's season statistics and you'll see the biggest difference is at the free throw line where the Vikings opponents have made more free throws (425) than CSU has attempted (397) this year. In fact, the Vikings have taken more free throws than their opposition in just three of 27 games this year, while opponents have taken at least 10 more free throws than CSU in 13 games.
DIALED IN FROM DISTANCE: Cleveland State has hit 179 three-pointers this year, two shy of moving into fifth place on the single season list in program history (180 in 2008-09). The Vikings are on pace to become just the third team in school history to hit 200 three-pointers in a season and would join the 2010-11 squad (237) and 2009-10 team (214) as the only teams with 200 three's in a season.
TREY FOR THREE: With his four three-pointers at Milwaukee on Tuesday, Trey Harmon inched closer to becoming just the third player in CSU history to make 200 career three-pointers. Harmon, who is third on the all-time list at CSU with 194 three-pointers, would join James Madison (262) and teammate Jeremy Montgomery (202) as the only players in program history with 200 career trifectas.
FIVE OR LESS: Tuesday's 86-84 loss at Milwaukee marked the second time this year that CSU lost a game by five points or less, dropping the Vikings to 7-2 in those contests.The Vikings have won four games on their final offensive possession this season. They include...
• Trey Harmon hits a three-pointer with 2.8 seconds left in a 67-64 win over St. Bonaventure (Nov. 18).
• Jeremy Montgomery steals the inbounds pass and hits two free throws with 3.4 seconds to play in a 63-62 victory over Boston University (Nov. 25).
• D'Aundray Brown tips in a missed shot with 0.3 seconds left in a 45-43 win at Wright State (Dec. 1).
• Jeremy Montgomery hits a three-pointer with 21.2 seconds left to give the Vikings a 69-66 win over Akron.
A PERFECT 10: Anton Grady had quite a weekend (Feb. 3-5) from the field in Chicago as he did not miss a shot, going 10-for-10 in the wins at Loyola and UIC. Grady made all four of his shots at Loyola and all six at UIC. He became the second player from CSU to be perfect from the field in a weekend, joining Tim Kamczyc who went 8-for-8 in home wins over Green Bay (Jan. 20) and Milwaukee (Jan. 22). Kamczyc made all four of his shots in both games.
WATERS COACHES 500th GAME: Head coach Gary Waters coached his 500th career game on Feb. 3 at Loyola. The 16-year veteran is 291-213 overall as a head coach. He went 92-60 in five years at Kent State (2001-06), was 79-75 at Rutgers from 2001-06 and is 120-78 in six years at Cleveland State. He has led nine of his teams to postseason play.
... AND CLOSING IN ON 200 AT CSU: Saturday's contest will be the 199th career game at Cleveland State for Gary Waters, putting him one game short of becoming the fourth coach in CSU history to coach 200 career games. He will join Ray Dieringer (360), Kevin Mackey (211) and Rollie Massimino (203) as the only coaches in program history to coach 200 career games. He has a 120-78 record at CSU, trailing only Dieringer (149) and Mackey (142) for most wins in school history.
ON THE MARK: CSU shot 25-of-37 (.676) from the field in the Feb. 3 win at Loyola, the third best field goal percentage in a game in CSU history. The Vikings went 10-of-17 (.588) in the first half and 15-of-20 (.750) in the second half. The only times a CSU team shot better in a game both came in 1979. The Vikings went 37-of-54 (685) against George Mason on Feb. 5, 1979, and were 36-of-53 (.679) versus St. Francis (Pa.) on Feb. 1, 1979.
ON THE MARK PART 2: CSU's 12 missed shots at Loyola (Feb. 3), matched the fewest field goal misses by a Division I team this year. CSU was the third team to miss just 12 shots in a game this year, joining Norfolk State (Nov. 27) against Eastern Kentucky and Mercer versus Navy on Dec. 30. Of the three teams, CSU attempted the most field goals (37).
KEEP `EM UNDER 50: The 70-42 win at UIC (Feb. 5) was the seventh time that CSU held a team under 50 points this year. UIC joined Rhode Island (45), Wright State (43), Sam Houston State (45), Loyola (48 and 47) and Youngstown State (47). The 1933-34, 1935-36 and 2008-09 teams share the school record, holding 11 opponents to 50 points or less. CSU is second in the league and 10th in the nation in scoring defense (58.7).
OH FOR THREE: CSU held Butler without a three-point field goal in the Feb. 11 loss as the Bulldogs went 0-for-8. It was the 15th time in program history that a team failed to make a three-pointer against the Vikings, including the second time this year. CSU also held Rhode Island without a three-pointer (0-8) on Nov. 26. Prior to this year, the last time the Vikings did not give up a three-pointer in a game was Dec. 17, 1996, against Youngstown State.
SWEET HOME CHICAGO: Senior Jeremy Montgomery enjoyed his final visit home to Chicago (Feb. 3-5), averaging 15.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in CSU's two wins. He shot 10-of-17 (.588) from the field, including 7-of-9 (.778) from three-point. In eight career games in his native Chicago, Montgomery averaged 12.8 points and 2.1 assists, hitting 24-of-40 (.600) from three-point.
POGUE GRABS 500TH CAREER BOARD: With his three rebounds against Valparaiso on Feb. 9, Aaron Pogue became the 19th player in CSU history to grab 500 rebounds for a career. He enters Saturday's game with 509 career rebounds. Pogue is the second player to notch his 500th career rebound this year, joining D'Aundray Brown. It is the second time in program history that CSU had two players reach the milestone in the same season.
427 AND COUNTING: With eight three-pointers on Tuesday at Milwaukee, the Vikings extended their school-record streak to 427 straight games with at least one three-pointer. CSU's last game without a three-pointer was on Feb. 21, 1998, when the Vikings went 0-for-8 in a 60-57 home win over Detroit.
MONTGOMERY STREAK SNAPPED AT 22: When Jeremy Montgomery failed to make a three-pointer against Valparaiso (Feb. 9), it snapped his school-record streak of 22 straight games with a three-pointer. Montgomery went 0-for-4 from long distance in CSU's win over Rio Grande (Nov. 15), in the second game of the season, but hit at least one three-pointer in every game since, before missing all five of his attempts against the Crusaders.
DROPPING DIMES: The Vikings dished out a season-high 22 assists (on 33 field goals) in the Jan. 22 win over Milwaukee. It was the second time CSU had at least 20 assists this year, the first time coming when the Vikings notched 20 in a win at Detroit (Dec. 3). The Vikings rank second in the league and rank 53rd in the country with 13.9 assists per game.
SIX IN DOUBLE DIGITS: CSU had six players score in double figures vs. Milwaukee (Jan. 22). Trey Harmon led the way with 15 points, while Tim Kamczyc, Jeremy Montgomery and Anton Grady all had 12 points. Aaron Pogue chipped in 11 and D'Aundray Brown had 10. It was the first time CSU had six players in double digits since a 113-61 win over Wilberforce on Dec. 12, 2009 (Cunningham, 18; Cole, 16; Ajere, 14; Montgomery, 12; Brown, 11; Harmon, 10).
VIKINGS PASS THEIR BOARDS: CSU dominated the glass in the Jan. 20 win over Green Bay, grabbing a season-high 43 rebounds to Green Bay's 23 boards. The plus-20 rebound margin was the highest of the season for CSU, easily surpassing the old high of plus-nine at Detroit (Dec. 3). The Vikings are +0.3 on the glass this year after being -1.2 last season.
ALL HE DOES IS WIN: Jeremy Montgomery enters Saturday's game with 89 career wins, tied for third most in program history. Montgomery needs just one more win to tie Norris Cole (2007-11) for second place on the list with 90 wins and two more to tie Ken McFadden (1985-89) for first place on the list with 91 career wins.
STRONG DEFENSE CONTINUES: Strong defense has always been a staple at CSU under head coach Gary Waters and this year has been no different. CSU is ranked first in the league in scoring margin (+7.4), turnover margin (+3.1), steals (8.9), field goal defense (.412) and scoring defense (58.7) and second in three-point field goal defense (.311). The Vikings have held 21 of their 27 opponents to under 45-percent shooting from the field.
BROWN AT #7 ON STEALS LIST: With one steal against Valparaiso on Feb. 9, D'Aundray Brown remained in seventh place on the all-time steals list at CSU with 205. He is four steals shy of moving past Norris Cole (2007-11) and into sixth place on the list. Brown leads the Horizon League and is ranked sixth in the nation with 2.7 steals per game (61 total), making at least two steals in 18 games this year. Brown was a member of the 2010 Horizon League All-Defense squad.
A TURNOVER TALE: One area where the Vikings have been dominant this year is the turnover battle where CSU leads the Horizon League and ranks 23rd in the nation with a +3.2 turnover margin. While CSU's turnovers are up from last year to 14.1 per game (CSU averaged 11.4 last year), the Vikings are turning teams over an average of 17.3 per game (14.7 last year), with opponents committing at least 20 turnovers in six games this year.
J-MO KEEPS PLAYING: When Jeremy Montgomery takes the floor on Saturday, he will be playing in his 134th straight game at CSU, second on the all-time list at CSU. Montgomery, who has never missed a game in his career, is slated to make his 84th straight start. With a minimum of five games left this season, Montgomery has a good chance to break Norris Cole's school-record of 140 straight games played.
SUCCESS 601: The sixth edition of Success Class under Gary Waters is utilizing the book Think Like a Champion by Dave Dinunzio as the course text. Instituted at CSU in the summer of 2006, Waters uses Success Class to teach the Viking players the finer points of what it takes to succeed, both on the basketball court and in life. Success Class 101 used John Wooden's book, The Pyramid of Success. Waters relied on John Maxwell's book Talent Is Never Enough in 2007-08 and turned to former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy's book, Quiet Strength in 2008-09. Waters returned to Maxwell in 2009-10, using 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player as the course text and again in 2009-10, using Maxwell's Winning With People. The non-credited class is taught weekly by Waters to the Viking players.
THIS `N THAT: Notes from the early part of the season...
• Trey Harmon was selected to the preseason All-Horizon League first team, while CSU was tabbed to finish third in the preseason poll.
• The Vikings won five straight games to open the season, the second best start in school history. Last year's squad holds the record with 12 straight wins.
• CSU's win at No. 7 Vanderbilt on Nov. 11 was the highest ranked opponent the Vikings have defeated in program history. It was the sixth top-25 team that CSU has defeated in program history with five of the wins under Gary Waters.
• The Vikings blocked 11 shots in a win over Rio Grande (Nov. 15), one shy of equaling the school record for most blocks in a game.
• Anton Grady had six blocks against Rio Grande, one shy of tying the CSU single game record of seven by three players and the most by a CSU freshman in a game.
• Aaron Pogue captured MVP honors of the Kingston, R.I., subregional of the Ticket City Legends Classic (Nov. 25-27) for his performance in CSU's three games. Pogue averaged 10.3 points and 6.3 rebounds to help the Vikings claim the title.
• Jeremy Montgomery dished out a career-high tying eight assists in a win at Rhode Island (Nov. 27). Charlie Lee had a career-high five assists in wins over UIC (Jan. 5) and Loyola (Jan. 7). Tim Kamczyc set a career-high with six assists against Youngstown State (Dec. 31).
• Freshman Anton Grady is the cousin of NBA player Earl Boykins. Both played high school basketball at Cleveland Central Catholic, while Boykins was a standout at Eastern Michigan when Gary Waters was an assistant coach.
• CSU went 6-1 in November this year and is a combined 14-1 during the last two November's. The Vikings were also 6-2 in December this year, improving their record to 12-3 over the last two December's.
• The Vikings had a 17 game win streak against schools in Ohio snapped with a 73-67 setback to Youngstown State (Dec. 31).
• The trio of associate head coach Jayson Gee and assistant coaches Larry DeSimpelare and Jeremaine Kimbrough are in their sixth year serving for head coach Gary Waters on the Viking bench. Only the tandem of Mitch Buonaguro and Paul Molinari (1996-03) served longer as a unit.
• Sebastian Douglas will miss the remainder of the season after injuring his left knee in late December It is the same knee that Douglas injured in May of 2010. That injury forced him to redshirt in 2010-11.
• This is the 21st season of CSU playing in the Wolstein Center with the Vikings going 176-113, including winning records in 10 of the last 14 years.
NO EXTRA TIME NEEDED: Tuesday's game at Milwaukee extended CSU's school-record streak of consecutive games without an overtime contest to 162. The last time CSU played an overtime tilt was on Nov. 17, 2007 when CSU topped Florida State, 69-66, at the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla. CSU is 107-55 since.
A NORTHEAST OHIO SWEEP: With a Dec. 10 win over Akron and a win at Kent State on Nov. 22, the Vikings have swept the season series against its two Northeast Ohio rivals for the second straight season. This year marked the 32nd time that CSU played both teams in the same year and the fifth time that the Vikings swept all of the games. CSU claimed single games against both teams in 1987-88, 1997-98 and 2010-11, and went 3-0 in 1977-78, 1980-81 and 1985-86, winning twice against Akron in both 1977-78 and 1980-81.
FREE THROWS: One area CSU struggled over the first three games was free throws as the Vikings hit just 37-of-61 (.607) from the charity stripe. However, since that time, the Vikings have gone 244-of-322 (.758) to raise the season free throw percentage to .728 (289-397), ranking first in the league and 56th in the nation. The school record for free throw percentage in a season is .749 (477-637) in 2009-10.
... AND HITTING IN CRUNCH TIME: The Vikings have been hitting free throws down the stretch, connecting on 76-of-99 (.767) in the final five minutes of games this year. Jeremy Montgomery leads the way, hitting 14-of-17 (.824), while Anton Grady has hit 17-of-21 (.809).
THREE'S FOR EVERYONE: Eleven different players have hit at least one three-pointer for Cleveland State this year, establishing a new season mark for players with a three-pointer. The previous mark was 10 players, accomplished three times, most recently in 2009-10.
BLOCK PARTY: Aaron Pogue blocked a career-high five shots in the win at UIC (Feb. 5). It allowed him to move into the top-10 on the career list at CSU. He now ranks ninth with 58 career swats, two shy of moving past Warren Bradley (1984-89) and into eighth place.
VIKINGS LIKE EXEMPTED TOURNEYS: The Ticket City Legends Classic was the sixth exempted tournament that CSU has played in under Gary Waters, with the Vikings sporting a 16-7 record in those games. CSU went 1-2 at the America's Youth Classic (Evansville, Ind.) in 2006-07, defeating ACC member Miami (Fla.), 78-67, for its lone win. In 2007-08, CSU played in the Glenn Wilkes Classic, going 3-1 with wins over teams from the Big East (73-70 over USF) and ACC (69-66 over Florida State). In 2008-09, the Vikings rebounded from an opening round loss to Washington to claim the Miami Regional title of the CBE Classic. Two years ago, CSU won two games at home as part of the Cancun Challenge before falling to Kentucky and Virginia in Cancun. Last season, CSU won four games at home to claim the World Vision Classic. This year, CSU defeated Vanderbilt to open the Ticket City Legends Classic and won two of three games at Rhode Island to win the Kingston subregional title.
UP NEXT: CSU heads on the road for the final time in the regular season when the Vikings play at Green Bay on Tuesday (Feb. 21) at 8:00 p.m. EST.
