Jan. 27, 2011
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
CHICAGO, Ill. - Norris Cole scored a game-high 22 points and Jeremy Montgomery celebrated his return to his native Chicago with 13 points, but it was the Viking bench that sparked CSU past UIC, 63-49, on Thursday night at the UIC Pavilion.
The win improved CSU to 19-3 on the year and 8-2 in conference play, moving the Vikings all alone into first place, a half-game ahead of Valparaiso, who was idle. UIC drops to 5-16 overall and the Flames lost for the ninth time in nine tries in league action.
"We won this game because the team came together at halftime and decided to play Viking basketball in the second half," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "We didn't play defense in the first half, settled for bad shots, gave them great shots and turned the ball over too much.
"In the second half, it was the exact opposite. We stopped their offense, made our shots and took care of the ball. More importantly, we pressured them into making mistakes and taking bad shots."
Brad Birton led UIC with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Robo Kreps added 10 points, all coming in the first half.
After trailing for all but 27 seconds of the first half and the first 4:31 of the second half, the Vikings knotted the game at 37-37 on a three-pointer by Tim Kamczyc with 15:29 left.
UIC took its final lead, 39-37, on a Corey Gray basket in the lane with 14:56 left, before CSU went on a 16-3 run over the seven-and-a-half minutes to put the game away.
Cole fueled the run with eight points, but it was the Viking bench that turned in some of the heavy lifting.
After Cole put CSU ahead, 41-39, McCoy turned in the play of the game when he smothered UIC's Dipanjot Singh on the right side, causing Singh to swing his elbow to clear space, smacking McCoy in the face. Dipanjot was called for the intentional foul with McCoy converting both free throws and Cole scoring in the lane on the ensuing possession to put the Vikings ahead, 45-39 with 13:36 left.
That effectively put UIC away as the Flames would come no closer than five the rest of the way.
CSU wasn't happy with the lead however, capping the run with a McCoy three-pointer with 7:17 left to put the Vikings ahead, 55-42. Luda Ndaye scored a pair of baskets during the burst to finish with a career-high tying seven points with three rebounds and three blocks while McCoy tallied nine points.
"Our bench has really stepped up to the challenge lately," Waters said. "We struggled to win when the bench did not produce and they have responded to the challenge of being more productive by turning in three very good games in a row."
With NDaye and McCoy leading the way, the Viking bench outscored UIC's, 18-9.
The strong second half shooting, during which CSU went 13-for-26 (.500), allowed the Vikings to shoot .460 for the game (23-50) while UIC made just seven of its 26 second half field goal attempts (.269) to shoot .385 for the game (20-52).
CSU also won the turnover battle, forcing UIC into 16 turnovers, including 10 in the first half, and owning a 24-11 edge in points off turnovers. After eight first half miscues, the Vikings made just three second half turnovers to finish with 11.
"When we take care of the ball, we are very hard to beat," Waters said.
The first half belonged to UIC as with the exception of a 3-2 Viking lead with 18:52 left on a three-pointer by Cole, the Flames controlled play as CSU could manage just .417 shooting in the first stanza (10-24) as UIC led by as many as nine (21-12, 8:18). The Flames shot .500 from the field (13-26)
Cole, who went to the bench with his second foul at the 9:51 mark, returned with six minutes left and immediately sparked the offense, scoring six straight points to pull CSU to within 36-21 (3:22). The Vikings continued to chip away, scoring the last five points of the half on a Luda Ndaye 20-foot jumper from the right side and a Montgomery trey from the top of the circle, to trail 31-29 at the break.
The Vikings conclude their weekend trip to Chicago by playing at Loyola on Saturday (Jan. 29) beginning at 3:00 p.m. CST (4:00 p.m. in Cleveland) in the Gentile Center on the Loyola campus. CSU then returns home to host Valparaiso on Thursday (Feb. 3) at 7:00 p.m. and Butler on Saturday (Feb. 5) at 12:00 noon.
