Dec. 15, 2001
Final Stats
Cleveland State senior Jamaal Harris (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) exploded for a career-high 31 points as the Vikings defeated Akron, 79-66, on Saturday afternoon at Goodman Arena.
The win evens the Vikings to 3-3 and places Head Coach Rollie Massimino just two victories shy of 500 career wins.
Harris scored just nine points in the first half, but came out firing in the second half. The co-captain missed just two shots in the second frame, going 7-of-9 with 22 points. He becomes the 34th player in CSU history to have 30 points or more in a game. The last player to achieve the feat was teammate Theo Dixon (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) against Loyola Chicago on February 3, 2001. Harris also finished with seven rebounds.
"Jamaal Harris had a quiet 31 points, but he played terrific," said Massimino. He was into the game and really excited to be on the floor.
In the second half CSU got a big boost from junior Andre' Williams (Clayton, N.J./Bishop Eustace) and freshman Walt Chavis (Steelton, Penn./Steelton-Highspire).
Despite spraining his wrist in practice this week, Williams started the game and scored a season-high 13 points from the blocks, going 6-for-6 from the field. In addition, Williams also took career highs with a game-high 12 rebounds as well as three blocks.
Chavis, who became eligible on Monday, grabbed four points off of two steals in the second half to help CSU pull away from the Zips. With CSU leading 54-48, Chavis stole the ball at midcourt and scored on a layup to increase the margin to 56-58 at 10:12. The next time down, Chavis repeated the feat to give the Vikes a 10-point cushion with 9:57 remaining and force an Akron timeout.
The Zips cut the lead to 63-59 with 6:01 remaining as Rashon Brown scored seven unanswered points, but Harris answered with a 3-pointer at 4:58 and CSU never looked back.
"Andre' Williams had the best game he's had since he's been here," Massimino said. "And we got a terrific boost from Walt Chavis. He's what we need - the focus, intensity and energy."
For the game the Vikings shot 49.1% from the floor and 81% at the charity stripe. CSU also outrebounded its opponent for the second consecutive game, grabbing 39 boards to Akron's 32.
The Vikings will be in action this Wednesday, December 19 at Florida State at 7 p.m. return to Cleveland for a game against Prairie View A&M on Saturday, December 22 at 2 p.m.
