Nov. 22, 2008

Cleveland, Ohio - Cleveland State battled hard the entire game against Kansas State, but fell to the Wildcats, 69-59, in the second annual McLendon Scholarship Classic on Saturday night in the Wolstein Center.

Norris Cole led the Vikings with a game high 17 points and three steals, while J'Nathan Bullock scored 11 points with one block and D'Aundray Brown added 10 points and had two steals.

The Wildcats claimed a quick 7-2 lead after three minutes, before the Vikings began their comeback. Bullock paced the Vikings early scoring the first six points to pull CSU within one (7-6).

Kansas State led by 11 with 9:50 left, before the Vikings were able to run off 11 straight points, tying the game at 20 at 6:40.

With the Vikings threatening, Kansas State scored nine unanswered points to take a 29-20 lead on their way to a 35-23 halftime lead.

"All three games have been slow starts for us. I don't know what it is, but we have to do a better job there. We are digging ourselves in a hole and we have to do something to start out right," head coach Gary Waters said.

Cleveland State came out strong to begin the second half scoring seven points in the opening two minutes, highlighted by three points from Bullock to pull back within eight at 38-30.

The Vikings continued to battle and at 11:30 pulled closed the gap to three points, 46-43, before the Wildcats went on a short 5-0 run making it an eight point game (51-43).

With Cleveland State trailing 57-48, Norris Cole went on a run of his own, scoring the next seven points for the Vikings slicing CSU's deficit to 59-55. That is the closest that the Vikings would get the rest of the game.

`I have to give K-State credit because they came in and did some things," Waters said. We're in a stage right now that we have to do some things better. If we correct some things, we'll do a better job. I don't think we played well at all on offense or defense, but we were still right there the entire game so that has to say something about these guys."

CSU wound up shooting .375 (21-56) from the field, including a 15-for-28 (.536) effort in the second half. However, the Wildcats shot 21-for-47 (.447) from the floor and .750 (21-28) from the free throw line as they took advantage of Cleveland State foul trouble.

`I am not in a panic situation now. We are playing that high level team, and our defense is still holding serve and that makes me feel good because we are going to start hitting shots. If I can keep their heads in it on that end, then I only have to work on one end because our defense is keeping us in games this year. Our defense is doing what we want them to do. We have to play better in the first half and get some guys to hit some shots," Waters said.

Denis Clemente led the Wildcats with a game high 16 points and three steals, while Jacob Pullen and Jamar Samuels each scored 15 points. Fred Brown had four steals to lead Kansas State.

The Vikings head to Miami, Fla. to play three games in three days at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, which will be played at Florida International. CSU plays Saint Leo on Monday (Nov. 24), Toledo on Tuesday (Nov. 25) and host FIU on Wednesday (Nov. 26).