Jan. 21, 2006

Final Stats

Contact: Brian McCann

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Raheem Moss scored 19 points and Ije Nwankwo added a personal Viking high 18 points as CSU led almost from wire-to-wire, claiming a 66-63 win over UW-Green Bay on Saturday night in the Resch Center.

The win was the fourth in the last five games for CSU and moves the Vikings (8-9, 4-3) into sole possession of third place in the Horizon League, a half-game behind second place Wright State (4-2). UW-Green Bay, which had won back-to-back home games over first place UW-Milwaukee and Wright State, drops to 9-10 overall and 3-4 in league play.

Cleveland State won the contest with a strong first half showing offensively, 40 minutes of defensive intensity and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch.

"I know that it seems like I'm saying this every night, but this was a big win for our program," Garland said. "We are becoming more and more comfortable at both ends of the floor and our defensive effort has been outstanding.

"It's funny, but after our game at Michigan State, Tom Izzo came into the locker room and he told our players that it doesn't matter how you play offensively, you have a chance to win every game if you play a strong defensive game for 40 minutes. That's what we've done during this winning streak and our blue collar defense is quickly becoming a trade mark of this team."

The defense was never better than in the final minute as CSU repelled several Phoenix scoring opportunities.

Ryan Evanochko, who finished with 11 points despite shooting just five-for-15 from the field, scored on a driving layup to pull UW-Green Bay to within 62-61 with 1:28 left.

A Viking turnover gave the ball back to the Phoenix, but UWGB could only manage an errant Mike Schachtner three-point try as the shot clock wound down.

Carlos English cleared the rebound and was promptly fouled, making both ends of a one-and-one to push the lead back to 64-61 with 19 seconds left. The Phoenix went for two, scoring on an Evanochko layup with nine seconds left.

Forced to foul, UWGB sent Moss to the line with 7.7 seconds left and the Viking junior made both ends of the one-and-one to extend the lead to 66-63.

UW-Green Bay had one more chance to score, but Terry Evans, who led the team with 14 points, couldn't connect on the potential game-tying trey as time expired.

"Those were some clutch free throws down the stretch by Carlos and Raheem," Garland said. "But that shows you the character that this team has. Both those guys have missed similar free throws earlier this year and it almost cost us. Tonight, they each went to the line and looked like they were shooting free throws in practice."

CSU entered the game as the Horizon League leader in both field goal defense (.418) and three-point defense (.304) and improved on both numbers, limiting the Phoenix to .385 shooting from the field (20-52), including a two-for-15 effort from three-point (.133).

The Vikings had an advantage on the boards for the fifth straight game, pulling down 18 offensive rebounds as part of a 42-30 rebounding edge.

Offensively, CSU was 15-of-19 from the line for a season-high .789 effort.

The Vikings started the contest quickly and appeared headed to an easy victory. The Phoenix took a 3-0 lead on a three-point play by Josh Lawrence just 34 seconds into the game.

CSU came back to take a 4-3 lead on a dunk by J'Nathan Bullock. UWGB took their final lead of the night when Schachtner hit a short jumper to give the Phoenix a 5-4 edge with 17:28 left.

The Vikings answered with back-to-back three-pointers from Patrick Tatham and Moss as part of 13-2 burst that gave CSU the lead for good.

After scoring a season-high 87 points in the win at UIC on Thursday, the Viking offense continued to run like clock-work in the first 20 minutes as CSU built a 41-31 halftime advantage.

UW-Green Bay battled back to tie the game at 51-51 with 9:47 left on a pair of Ryan Werch free throws, but Moss answered with a three-pointer just 12 seconds later to put CSU ahead for good.

The win allowed CSU to accomplish several milestones.

Combined with Thursday's win at UIC, it gave the Vikings their first sweep a two-game road trip for the first time since claiming wins over UIC and Loyola on February 1 & 3, 2001. It also marked the squad's first four-game league winning streak since the 2000-01 season.

The victory gave the Vikings three straight league wins on the road, a fete not accomplished since CSU claimed six straight as part of a 15-1 conference mark in 1992-93.

The Vikings return home to host Butler on Wednesday (Jan. 25) and Youngstown State on Saturday (Jan. 28).