Jan. 29, 2005

Final Stats Quotes Notes

Contact: Brian McCann

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Omari Westley scored 18 points and blocked a career-high five shots and Raheem Moss added 16 points as Cleveland State won its third straight league game for the first time in four years, upending Wright State, 67-53 in the Wolstein Center.

Zach Williams led Wright State with 14 points with DaShaun Wood and Jordan Pleiman adding 10 points each

The win snapped a CSU four-game losing streak to the Raiders and evened the all-time series at 21 games apiece. The Vikings dropped a 73-57 decision at Wright State on Jan. 6.

"We won this game on the defensive end," head coach Mike Garland said. "The shots weren't dropping early in the game but we D'd it up and that got us over the hump."

"I can't say enough about how well Walt Chavis played tonight. He had six assists with just one turnover and he did a great job defending DeShaun (Woods).

"Our current success didn't just start with the win at Youngstown State last week. It started way before that when we were losing all of those games on the road and our kids were working hard and believeing in the program. This has been a learning process and our team is just that, a team.

"The seeds (of success) were planted a long time ago and right now we are just reaping the harvest," Garland added.

For the second straight game, the Vikings started out strongly, taking an 11-2 lead just four minutes into the contest. Westley did most of the damage during the run, scoring six points.

The Raiders would fight back to tie the game at 13-13 and 25-25, but each time CSU refused to give up the lead.

The Vikings trailed only once in the game, that coming when Wright State's Drew Burleson scored on the opening possession of the second half to put the Raiders up, 29-27.

But it was Westley again who led the Viking charge, scoring an old-fashioned three-point play on the next possession to start an 8-0 that put CSU ahead for good.

The Vikings were unable to pull away however. The Raiders pulled to within 53-47 with 4:32 left on a Pleiman three-point play.

Moss, who had struggled offensively for most of the game, took over after that, scoring all seven points during a 7-0 burst that gave the Vikings a 60-47 lead with 1:50 left and effectively, put the game out of reach.

"Tonight's game showed that Raheem (Moss) is maturing as a player," Garland said. "He struggled from the outside early in the game but he stuck with it and made some important shots down the stretch. We've been trying to get him to play more physically, which he did tonight."

Westley played one of his most efficient offensive games of the year, finishing with 18 points on just 16 shots to lead CSU in scoring for the ninth time in the last 12 games. He was six-of-eight from the field and six-of-eight from the line.

Patrick Tatham came off the bench for the second straight game after returning from an ankle injury that had sidelined him for seven games. He scored 10 points, on four-of-six shooting, while pulling down five rebounds.

The Vikings improved to 7-10 on the season and 4-5 in league play. CSU is 6-1 in home games this year. Wright State dropped to 10-10 overall and 5-4 in conference action.

Cleveland State remains at home for two more games next week, hosting UW-Green Bay on Thursday (Feb. 3) and Detroit on Saturday (Feb. 5).