Harmon Leads CSU to 92-75 Win Over John Carroll
    Vikings Open The Regular Season At St. Bonaventure On Friday
    Trey Harmon was six-for-eight from three-point against John Carroll

    Trey Harmon was six-for-eight from three-point against John Carroll

    Nov. 9, 2009

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    Contact: Brian McCann

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    CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Sophomore Trey Harmon and Nigel Harmon came off the bench to score 37 points, part of a 59-point night buy the Viking bench, as Cleveland State knocked off John Carroll, 92-75 on Monday night in an exhibition game in the Wolstein Center.

    Harmon went six-for-eight from three-point en route to scoring a career high 22 points while Ajere, who was making his CSU debut, scored in a variety of ways inside, going seven-for-eight from the field to finish with 15 points in 13 minutes of action.

    "We didn't shoot the ball as well as we can, but Trey certainly shot the lights out tonight," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "Nigel is a hard guy to handle inside because he has so many moves that he can make. He makes things look simple."

    "I've said all along that you can't worry about this team in November and December because we have the ability to get 10 times better in January. This was a good test for us because they pressured us and did some other things well."

    The Vikings started the contest playing sluggish on offense, making just one of their first 10 field goal attempts in falling behind, 8-2, at the 15:03 mark.

    But things finally kicked in and CSU used a 13-0 run to turn a 17-15 deficit into a 28-17 lead with 3:30 left in the first half.

    After leading 38-29 at the break, the Vikings scored 10 of the first 12 points in the second half to build a 48-31 advantage just 1:30 into the second stanza and were never seriously challenged.

     

     

    CSU, which averaged just under five three-point field goals a game in putting together a 26-11 record last year, used the long ball effectively. After going two-for-nine in the first half (.222), the Vikings knocked down eight of their 14 attempts in the second half to shoot .435 for the game (10-23).

    Harmon keyed the outside game, knocking down five of his six three-point attempts in the second half. Jeremy Montgomery (2-5) and Josh McCoy (2-3) each knocked down a pair if treys, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

    Ajere was offensively superior in his debut, attacking the basket to score layup after layup, missing his only perimeter jumper of the evening on his final shot of the game.

    On the positive side for the Vikings, CSU forced 29 JCU turnovers in the contest, four more than the Vikings forced in any game last season, and made 15 steals. D'Aundray Brown, Montgomery and Harmon led the way with three steals each.

    CSU also had a 45-35 rebounding edge with newcomers Aaron Pogue (10 rebounds) and Jared Cunningham (8) leading the way.

    Although CSU struggled at times at the offensive end, the Vikings still had assists on almost 80-percent of its baskets, handing out 24 assists on 31 baskets.

    One negative came in the ball-handling department as the search for a successor for Cedric Jackson at point guard led to CSU committing 25 turnovers, including 12 in the final 10 minutes.

    "We've got to do better than that," Waters said. "I'm not happy when we have 12 turnovers, let alone 25."

    The Vikings have little time to get ready for their season opener, traveling to Olean, NY to face St. Bonaventure on Friday, Nov. 13 beginning at 7:00 p.m.