Dec. 4, 2010
Contact: Brian McCann
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Cleveland State tied a school record with 14 three-pointers and Jeremy Montgomery led four Vikings in double figures with a season-high 20 points as CSU became the first team in the nation to win 10 games with an 82-59 win at Milwaukee on Saturday night.
The win snapped a 10-game CSU losing streak in Milwaukee and allowed CSU to sweep the Wisconsin road trip for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. The Vikings are 2-0 in Horizon League play for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.
"This was the best that we have played all season," head coach Gary Waters said. "We really put it together, shooting the ball well, defending hard and not making too many mistakes.
"We shot the ball real well from the outside on Thursday night and it carried over to tonight. We are capable of shooting the ball like this because we have so many good perimeter shooters."
"Well" was an understatement as the Vikings went 30-for-47 from the field for a season-best .638 shooting night. Included in that total was a 14-22 effort from three-point (.636), making CSU 25-for-36 (.694) from beyond the arc during the two-game Wisconsin trip.
Montgomery led the way, going five-for-seven from three-point en route to his fifth career 20-point effort while Norris Cole added 14 points and nine assists, Trey Harmon chipped in with 13 points and Charlie Woods came off the bench to score 10.
Tony Meier was the only Milwaukee player in double figures, finishing with 20 points.
The Vikings used an aggressive running offense and great outside shooting to take control of the game at the start, connecting on eight first half three-pointers, making their first six attempts from the field.
CSU ran off 12 of the first 14 points in the game. Pogue scored five of CSU's first eight points with Montgomery, Harmon and Cole each adding baskets to put the Vikings ahead, 12-2 with 16:23 left.
"We came out and played in a similar fashion at Green Bay on Thursday, but we didn't finish the plays and hold the lead," Waters said. "We weren't going to make that mistake tonight. Once we got the lead, we just didn't give them an opening to get back into the game."
After Milwaukee closed to within 15-7, thanks in part to seven points from Tony Meier, Harmon knocked down consecutive treys and Joe Latas scored in the lane to push the lead to 23-7 with 13:00 left
The Vikings would maintain the lead and made one more big push before half. Leading 33-17 (5:36), Montgomery scored a three-pointer - the old fashioned - way, scoring in the lane and then converting the free throw, and came right back to knock down a 24-foot three-pointer as part of an 8-0 CSU run.
When Josh McCoy scored in the lane, CSU led 41-17 (3:53).
UWM's Anthony Hill who scored 30 points on Thursday against Youngstown State, countered with a basket inside but Charlie Woods answered with a long three from the right side to give the Vikings their largest lead of the night, 25 at 43-18 (1:36). Hill finished with eight points on two-for-eight shooting.
CSU came out of the locker room for the second half hot, scoring the first six points to deliver the knock out blow, opening up a 31-point advantage. Milwaukee would come no closer than 21 the rest of the way.
The lone point of concern for the Vikings on the evening was the foul situation where CSU was whistled for 30 personal fouls, most coming inside, leading to 32 free throws by Milwaukee (22 made). At the other end, UWM was called for just 10 fouls with the Vikings going eight-for-13 at the line.
The Vikings dominated the other stats, outscoring UWM's bench, 27-18, and having a 17-2 lead in fastbreak points and a 30-20 lead in points in the paint.
The Vikings return home to host West Virginia Tech on Tuesday night (Dec. 7) before making road trips to Sam Houston State (Dec. 11) and West Virginia (Dec. 18) on successive Saturdays.
