Nov. 30, 2005

Final Stats |  Quotes |  Notes

Contact: Brian McCann

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- From the day that he was hired at Cleveland State in April of 2003, Mike Garland said that he wanted to build a basketball team that was true to the blue-collar roots of the City of Cleveland. On Wednesday night in the Wolstein Center, the blue-collar Vikings harassed and haranged Central Michigan for 40 minutes before emerging with a 56-43 win.

Raheem Moss led the Vikings with 14 points, but the CSU offense had little to do with the win. It was a suffocating defense that limited the Chippewas to .306 shooting from the field (15-49), the second-lowest shooting percentage by a Viking opponent under Garland.

"Tonight, we won the Mike Garland way," a proud Garland said after the contest. "This was a tremendous effort defensively. That is how you beat a program like that. I told my kids before the game to just go out and play. I felt like I had been riding them a little bit too much and that it was time to just turn them loose.

"This is a big win in a lot of ways," Garland added.

The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against Mid-American Conference opponents, including seven straight by Garland-coached teams.

The defense was never better than during a nine-and-a-half minute stretch during the first half when the Viking offense went scoreless. Central Michigan could not fully take advantage of the scoring slump, putting just nine points on the board during the stretch to take a 15-10 lead with 9:16 left.

When Moss made a pair of free throws to stop the streak and put the CSU offense back on track, all Central Michigan could do was watch as the Vikings stormed back and regained the lead.

The Vikings played like two different teams in the first half, sandwiching two extended periods of precision and efficient offense around a lengthy dry spell.

Carlos English had a hand in the first 10 CSU points, scoring six points, on back-to-back three-pointers and handing out a pair of assists as the Vikings led, 10-6 with 17:03 left.

It would be almost 10 minutes before CSU would score again as Central Michigan would run off the next nine points to build a 15-10 lead with 9:16 left.

Moss, who was playing with two fouls at the time, finally put CSU back on the board when he made both ends of a one-and-one with 7:35 left to pull the Vikings to within 15-12, ending the scoreless run at 9:28.

Moments later, Moss put CSU back on top when he connected on a three-pointer. A subsequent Victor Morris driving jumper extended the Viking lead to 19-16 with 5:41 left.

Central Michigan would fight back, tying the contest at 22-22 with 2:43 left, before CSU ran off eight straight points to open its largest lead of the game, 30-22 with 1:17 left.

Steve Gansey keyed the run, making a pair of free throws one on possession. He made a steal at the other end of the court to start the Viking transition, finishing the play with a three-pointer that ended the run.

Eddie Spencer closed the first half scoring by making one-of-two free throws as CSU led, 30-23 at the half.

The Chippewas would come no closer in the second stanza as the Vikings scored the first five points of the second half to extend the margin to 35-23 with 18:38 left.

Every time it looked like the door might open for Central Michigan, there was a Viking ready to slam it shut. The Chippewas shot just .229 from the field in the second half (8-35), including just .167 from three-point (2-12).

CSU, which entered the contest leading the Horizon League averaging 13.0 steals per game, managed nine in the contest with Frashon McGee setting his career high with four.

Carlos English turned in another stellar performance at the point, scoring nine points with a career-high matching six assists, three steals and just two turnovers.

Freshman J'Nathan Bullock, who earned his second career start, went five-for-nine from the field in scoring 10 points, his second career double-figure scoring effort.

Cleveland State has little time to celebrate the victory, returning to the court on Saturday (Dec. 3) when it travels to Kent State for a 7:00 p.m. meeting with the Golden Flashes.