Dec. 13, 2003
Box Score
Contact: Brian McCann
NORFOLK, Va. All throughout the preseason, first year Cleveland State head coach Mike Garland preached about doing the basics.
Defense and rebounding, he said, were the two most important building blocks needed to win. For CSU to be successful and overcome last year's 8-22 record, the Vikings would have to challenge every shot and fight for every rebound.
Garland's words never rang truer than on Saturday night when the Vikings dominated those two facets of the game to rally in the second half for a 64-52 win at Norfolk State.
Cleveland State held a commanding 56-31 edge on the boards and limited the Spartans to just .294 shooting (20-68), the lowest effort by a CSU opponent in over two years.
"I thought that tonight's game was really two games in one," Garland said. "In the first half we were sluggish and just couldn't get it going. The second half was a totally different story. We made good decisions, settled in and played good half court defense and converted our chances offensively.
The win improved CSU's record to 4-2 on the year while Norfolk State dropped to 1-5.
Jermaine Robinson ignited the offense, scoring 21 points, including 14 in the second half. It was his fourth 20-point performance of the season and marked the fifth time in six games that he has led CSU in scoring.
Junior Omari Westley and freshman Patrick Tatham, who was starting for the second straight game, provided the work on the glass as each turned in a double-double performance. Westley scored 11 points with a game-high 12 rebounds while Tatham set career highs with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Leading 47-46 with 6:17 left, Tatham and Robinson teamed up to score the next eight points to put the game away, Tatham started the run by nailing a three-pointer from the left corner and then made one-of-two free throws. Robinson followed with a pair of short bank shots in transition, the last giving the Vikings a 55-46 lead with 3:14 left.
The rest of the game proved to be a game of keep away for CSU, who slowed the pace on offense, forcing the Spartans to foul. The Vikings did not score a field goal the rest of the way, converting nine-of-13 free throw attempts down the stretch to claim the victory.
"We showed much better patience offensively in the second half," Garland said of the Vikings, who shot .500 from the field (10-20) in the second half. "We used our defense and rebounding to create baskets in transition."
The patience was definitely lacking in the first half as CSU shot a horrid .296 from the field in the first half (8-27), including one-of-six from three-point, and nine-of-16 from the line (.563). The first half featured three ties and five lead changes with the Vikings trailing by as many as seven, 23-16 with 7:06 left.
Junior Amadou Koundoul celebrated his 24th birthday in fine fashion, scoring four points with six rebounds in the first half to help CSU close the gap to just 29-26 at the break.
"Amadou has been our emotional leader all season long but tonight he was able to provide us some solid minutes off the bench in the first half," Garland said.
The game started a stretch of seven games over the next 21 days with six of the contests coming on the road. CSU returns to action on Wednesday night (Dec. 17) with a 7:00 p.m. game at Kent State.
NOTES
The .294 field goal percentage by Norfolk State marked the fourth time this year that CSU had held its opponent to sub-.400 shooting.
The win was CSU's second in three road games this year, equaling the road win total from the entire 2002-03 season. Last year, the Vikings were 2-12 on the road.
Jermaine Robinson's 21-point effort allowed him to improve his scoring average to 20.2 points a game, tops in the Horizon League. He now has 961 career points, leaving him 39 points shy of becoming the 16th 1,000 point scorer in CSU history.
Senior Pape Badiane blocked four shots in the game, giving him 24 blocks this year to rank sixth nationally. It was his 30th career game with multiple blocked shots and his 13th career game of four or more rejections. Badiane now had 112 career blocks.
Rebounding again proved to be the telling statistic as CSU is now 4-0 this year in games in which it has outrebounded its opponent and 0-2 in games in which it lost the battle of the boards.
The +25 rebounding margin was the largest margin of the year, surpassing the +18 effort against Central State in the season opener. Through six games, CSU leads the Horizon League with a +8.7 rebounding margin.
Freshman Luke Murphy, who played last year at Phoebus High in Hampton, Va., played in front of approximately 50 family and friends. He blocked a shot in the first half, giving him at least one block in four of the six games this year.
It was a week for birthdays on the Viking roster. Senior Jermaine Robinson turned 22 on Thursday (Dec. 11) and Amadou Koundoul turned 24 today (Dec. 13).
