Dec. 23, 2004

Final Stats

Ypsilanti, Mich. - Cleveland State led by as many as 11 in the second half, but could not hold off a charging Eastern Michigan team as the Viking fell, 89-76, Thursday night in Ypsilanti, Mich. EMU (7-2) was aided by a 23-point advantage from the free throw line in sending CSU (3-4) to its fourth-straight defeat.

The Vikings came out for the second half with a 38-37 lead and used a 12-2 run in the early minutes to jump ahead to their biggest lead of the night at 50-39. Eastern Michigan cut the advantage to four at 59-55 with 12:51 remaining, but Raheem Moss hit a pull-up jumper and Victor Morris nailed an additional basket to build the CSU lead to eight at 64-56 with 11:08 left.

EMU came right back as the Eagles used a 15-6 run over the next four minutes to take the lead for good at 70-68.

With the Vikings trailing 75-71, senior guard Walt Chavis picked an errant Eastern Michigan pass and sent the ball ahead to Morris, who laid it in to cut the deficit to two with 4:33 to go. Cleveland State would go scoreless over the next four minutes, however, as the Eagles would hit nine unanswered before freshman Steve Gansey tallied the Vikings' final points with a three-pointer at 0:31.

"It's getting to be like a broken record," head coach Mike Garland said. "Everything that we did to get the lead we stopped doing down the stretch. We were jumping at them defensively and making them work for shots, but then we stopped. And that opened up the door for them offensively."

CSU trailed by as many as five in the first half, as the teams would trade the lead 10 times during the first stanza, but the Vikings battled back to take a one-point advantage into the locker room.

EMU hit their first 16 free-throws of the game and finished with a decisive advantage from the stripe, hitting 33 of 38 to CSU's 10 of 18. After going 5-10 from behind the arc in the first, Cleveland State could only manage 1-13 in the second.

Morris became the fifth player to lead the Vikings in scoring this season, notching a career-high 18, while Omari Westley (13), Patrick Tatham (12) and Moss (10) recorded double-digit point totals.

Eastern Michigan junior Markus Austin led all scorers with 23 points while freshman Darryl Garrett posted a double-double with 20 points and 15 boards.

CSU heads to Chapel Hill, N.C. on Dec. 30 when they take on nationally-ranked North Carolina at 8:00 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center.