Jan. 19, 2006

Contact: Brian McCann

Final Stats

CHICAGO - CHICAGO, Ill. - In a game in which the Vikings set a season-high for points, it was the defense that stood out down the stretch as CSU used several key defensive stops in the final minute to upend UIC, 87-83 in the UIC Pavilion.

The win was a team effort as a season-high five Vikings scored in double figures. Raheem Moss paced CSU with 16 points with Carlos English adding 15 points, nine assists and four steals. Ije Nwanko scored 14 points with five rebounds, Frashon McGee has 12 points and eight rebounds and Patrick Tatham tallied 10 points with nine rebounds.

Justin Bowen paced UIC with 36 points and 13 rebounds with Josh Mayo adding 22 points.

"This was a statement win for our program," head coach Mike Garland said. "UIC is a team that we did not play well against in the five times we played them in the last two years. Tonight, we stood toe-to-toe with them and beat them at their own game.

"I didn't think that we played with the same defensive effort in the first half that we have over the last couple of games. We were able to make some adjustments at halftime which allowed us to force UIC into doing some thing offensively that they didn't necessarily want to do."

The victory snaps a seven-game CSU losing streak against the Flames, including four straight losses in the UIC Pavilion.

CSU took the lead with eight minutes to play and then refused to give it up down the stretch, answering three UIC rallies that had trimmed the CSU lead to one-point and denying the Flames on a pair of good scoring opportunities in the final 20 seconds.

The first came with 19 seconds left when Frashon McGee stripped Othyus Jeffers of the ball in the lane. But CSU could not convert either of the two subsequent free throws, giving the ball back to the Flames.

UIC had one last chance to force overtime, but Moss played tight defense on Karl White, forcing him to take an off-balance shot that banked off the glass and rim before Victor Morris cleared the rebound. Morris was promptly fouled and made both free throws with 2.1 seconds left.

The win, the third for CSU in its last four games, improved the Vikings to 7-9 on the season and moved them into a third place tie in the Horizon League with a 3-3 mark. UIC dropped to 8-10 overall and 1-5 in league play.

The first half was a track meet with both squads using their running attack to go on scoring runs.

UIC jumped out to an 8-2 advantage with 17:36 left as Bowen connected on a pair of field goals and Mayo scored in transition as part of a 6-0 Flame run.

CSU came right back, running off 13 of the next 15 points to jump ahead, 15-11 with 14:21 left.

The stretch was a team effort as five different Vikings scored during the burst with English handing out assists on four of the six baskets, all coming in transition. After UIC's Josh Mayo made a three-pointer for the only Flame points during the stretch, English found Moss open on the right side for a trey to tie the game at 11-11.

English came back on the next possession to find Luke Murphy open in the lane for two and then he capped off the burst with a foul line jumper.

UIC countered, taking a 24-23 lead with 11:04 left on a pair of free throws by Othysus Jeffers.

The Vikings would tie the game at 28-28 with 6:44 left when Moss knocked down a trey from the left corner, but Greg Zimny buried a 15-footer and Bowen scored in the lane to give the Flames the lead for the remainder of the half.

UIC would lead by as many as seven (41-34 with 2:02 left), but a pair of free throws from both Victor Morris and Frashon McGee pulled the Vikings to within three (41-38) and CSU went to the locker room trailing 44-40 at the break.

A three-pointer by Mayo just 16 seconds into the second half extended the lead to 47-40.

It was Cleveland State's game after that.

Patrick Tatham scored in transition and Moss followed with a three-pointer to bring the Vikings to within 53-52 with 16:32 left.

UIC would continue to hang on to the lead until Moss made his fourth trey of the night with 9:07 left to give the Vikings their first lead of the half, 68-67.

UIC answered with Karl White basket in the lane but J'Nathan Bullock, who was held to six points and six rebounds, made two free throws with 8:23 left to put CSU ahead for good.

The Vikings have little time to rest, heading directly to UW-Green Bay for a Saturday evening (Jan. 21) matchup with the Phoenix. CSU returns home next week to host Butler on Wednesday (Jan. 25) and Youngstown State on Saturday (Jan. 28).

NOTES

The win improved CSU to 27-29 in the all-time series with UIC, making the Flames the fifth most-often played opponent in CSU history.

CSU snapped losing streaks to UIC of seven games overall and four games in the UIC Pavilion.

The win improved CSU to 3-3 in Horizon League play, tying the Vikings with UW-Green Bay (3-3) and Butler (2-2) for third place in the league. UW-Milwaukee (6-1) is in first place followed by Wright State (4-1).

After recording just four assists and four steals in the last two games to lose the league individual lead in both stat categories, Carlos English handed out nine assists - his second highest single game total this year - with a career-high matching four steals.

CSU committed just 11 turnovers, the second-lowest total this year, including just two in the second half.

The Vikings recorded a season-high 24 offensive rebounds en route to holding a 46-40 rebounding advantage. It marked the seventh time this year - and fourth game in a row - that CSU had the edge on the boards.

When UIC's Justin Bowen and Danijel Zoric fouled out late in the game, it marked the first time this year that a CSU opponent fouled out of a game. CSU has had 12 players foul out this year.