Dec. 21, 2002

Box Score

CLEVELAND - Stingy defense and a big boost from the bench propelled Cleveland State to a 70-56 win over visiting Boston University Saturday at Goodman Arena.

Led by junior Modibo Niakate's (Paris, France/Hutchinson C.C./Sacred Heart Griffin) career-high 23 points, the bench scored 53 of the Vikings' total. In addition, senior Andre' Williams (Clayton, N.J./Bishop Eustace) turned in his highest output since transferring to CSU from Monmouth, tallying 19 points. Junior Jonathan Burge (Cleveland, Ohio/Lakeland C.C./South) added 11 in just his third game as a Viking.

Meanwhile the Viking defense held the Terriers to the lowest scoring total by an opponent this year. BU shot just 32.8 percent (20-of-61) from the field, including 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from 3-pt. range, and 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from the line.

"Defensively we got it together and communicated," said CSU Head Coach Rollie Massimino. "They didn't shoot well, but hopefully we had a bit to do with it."

The Vikings, 5-6, also outrebounded the Terriers 40-37 as Williams hauled in a game-high11 boards and senior Tahric Gosley (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz) snagged 10.

Gosley, the Horizon League leader in blocked shots, also notched four blocked shots to run his career total to 152 and close within two of Brian Hummers (Detroit, 1984-87) on the league's career charts.

Bench players also led BU as Chaz Carr scored a team-high 14 points and Kevin Gardner pulled down a team-best six rebounds.