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Pressure Defense Leads Vikings To 73-52 Win
Dec. 30, 2006
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Vikings ended their six-game losing streak in dominant fashion, forcing 27 turnovers to run past West Virginia Tech, 73-52, on Saturday (Dec. 30) at the Wolstein Center. The win gave Senior guard Carlos English led all scorers with a season-high 21 points with five three-pointers to go along with five assists and four steals. Sophomore J'Nathan Bullock added 17 points and 14 rebounds, while junior Kevin Francis had 14 points and freshman Joe Davis 12. Arman Ivory led West Virginia Tech with 16 points and six rebounds.
After a Brent Butler trey pulled West Virginia Tech to within 43-33 with 16:14 remaining, CSU went on an 18-1 run over a period of seven minutes to open its largest lead of the night, 61-34. The burst was keyed by two thunderous dunks off steals by Bullock and a three pointer by senior Raheem Moss. The Golden Bears went on an 18-7 run down the stretch to close to 68-52 but would get no closer. West Virginia Tech spent most of the evening in a zone defense, and the Vikings made the Golden Bears pay, drilling nine three pointers. CSU also hit its free throws, making 10 of 12 at the free throw line. "We have been pretty good against zones this year," head coach Gary Waters said. "Teams are afraid of J'Nathan inside, so we see a lot of zones. We just have to make sure we get good shots." West Virginia Tech made things interesting early, jumping out to a 7-0 lead to force a CSU timeout. The Vikings answered with an 8-0 run to take a one-point lead and the teams traded buckets until West Virginia Tech's Louis Rome hit a lay-up to tie the game at 19 with 12:02 remaining in the opening stanza. "Our guys didn't realize how good they were," Waters said. "They weren't a normal (NAIA) Division II team. We were facing a team that is moving forward with their program." The Vikings took control with an 11-2 run gave the Vikings a 30-21 lead at the 6:41 mark and eventually extended the advantage to 10 at 37-27 on an English trey at the 2:46 mark. English hit another shot from downtown a minute later to give the Vikings the 40-28 lead they would take into the halftime locker room. The Golden Bears shot 8-of-19 at the free throw line and held a slim 40-37 rebounding edge, but the 27 miscues were too much to overcome as CSU held a 28-11 edge in points off turnovers. The contest marked the 50th straight start for senior center Patrick Tatham, who played 15 minutes and scored two points with three rebounds and a pair of blocks. CSU will tip off 2007 in the
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