Nov. 24, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Brian McCann

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MIAMI, Fla. - J'Nathan Bullock led all players with 22 points and nine rebounds and Cleveland State (2-2) never trailed as the Vikings ran past Saint Leo, 72-62, in an opening round game of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic at Florida International University.

"I didn't think that we were going to have our best game tonight because of all the travel, but we came out with some energy and controlled the tempo of the game," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "I still don't think that we are playing to our potential. We showed flashes of it tonight, but when we jumped out to such a quick lead, we let up and didn't put them away.

"This is going to be a long tournament with our next two opponents being a lot more skilled so I wanted to use our bench a lot tonight. That allowed us to get some minutes for some guys who hadn't played much in the first three games. It also helped to keep Saint Leo in the game because we didn't play our starting five as a group very much."

Bullock, who had scored in double figures in each of CSU's first three games despite some shooting woes, scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half en route to recording his 14th career 20-point game.

With the Vikings shooting a season-best 50-percent from the field (32-for-64), Cleveland State continually threw the ball inside for baskets in the lane. Cedric Jackson, Norris Cole, Chris Moore and Joe Latas each finished with eight points with Jackson adding eight assists, Brown nine rebounds and Moore seven rebounds.

Jordan Prais led Saint Leo with 19 points and seven rebounds while Kyle Rowland added 11 points.

"I don't think we played spectacular, but we played well enough," Waters said.

The Vikings, who entered the game having struggled offensively in the first half of games this season, would have none of that this evening, scoring baskets on five of its first six shots to take a 10-1 lead.

Outside of a second half run during which the Lions rallied to tie the game at 35-35 with 17:29 left, the Vikings controlled the tempo of play and were never seriously threatened.

Cleveland State led by as many as 11 points on three occasions in the opening half, but a 15-0 free throw shooting advantage by the Lions in the opening stanza allowed them to keep within five, 33-28, at the intermission.

Back-to-back three-pointers from Kyle Rowland and Quentin Cullop allowed the Lions to even the game just two and a half minutes into the second half, but Cleveland State ripped off 10 straight points to take control.

As it has been so far this season, the decisive run was a team effort. Cole and Bullock started it with three-point plays on back-to-back possessions. Cole's pressure on point guard Matthew Salay resulted in a steal and dunk by Jackson and D'Aundray Brown (7 points, 9 rebounds) finished the run with jumper following a Bullock steal.

Saint Leo would come no closer than six points the rest of the way as CSU took care of the basketball and patiently ran its offense.

The free throw disadvantage improved a little after the first half with Saint Leo finishing the night making 18 of its 24 attempts (.750) while CSU was just five-for-11 (.455) with all 11 attempts coming in the second stanza.

A good sign for the Vikings came on the glass where, after being out-rebounded in each of the first three games, CSU had a decisive 43-26 rebounding edge, including 16 offensive rebounds.

The Vikings have little time to celebrate the win, returning to the court on Tuesday (Nov. 25) to take on Toledo beginning at 4:00 p.m.