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Tom Mieskoski

Jeremy_Montgomery2The Cleveland State men's basketball team have won three games in a roll since that dreadful weekend in Indiana three weeks ago when the Vikings lost both games at Butler (79-56) and Valparaiso (64-58).

The Vikings credit a team meeting they had after those loses as the reason why they got back on track.

"We were wondering what was going on at the time," said junior guard Jeremy Montgomery. "So we had a team meeting and changed our mindsets to defense first."

Entering this week's games, CSU stands at 18-3 and 7-2 in the Horizon League, which is tied for first-place with Valparaiso (15-6, 7-2 Horizon League). Butler and Wright State are a game behind them, both are 6-3 in the conference.

This week CSU is on the road for their annual trip to Chicago at Illinois-Chicago (5-15, 0-8) on Thursday and Loyola-Chicago (12-8, 3-6) on Saturday. While Valpo host Butler (14-7, 6-3) on Saturday in its only game of the week.

Montgomery ends slump: Montgomery broke out of a 10-for-30 slump in his previous four games, going 5-for-8 from the field for 17 points against Wright State on Saturday.

"I don't really focus on scoring points because on any given day anyone on this team can play well," Montgomery said after the game. "When my shot was not falling I was just trying to lock down my defender."

The Chicago native has been in a season long slump this season. He's shooting 37.4 percent from the field, 29.6 percent from 3-point range and 74.2 percent from the line.

Those numbers are down from last season when he shot 44.2 percent from the field, 40.4 percent from 3-point range and 85.1 percent from the line.

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Tom Mieskoski

Jeremy_Montgomery

A popular T-Shirt selling at  Cleveland State's team shop during games has the Under Armour logo with the words:  "Cleveland State Basketball Protect This House."

So far this season CSU has done just that as the Vikings remained undefeated at home this season with a 65-46 blowout victory over Wright State on Saturday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

CSU are 12-0 at the Wolstein this season and have won 14 straight at home dating back to last season, which breaks the Wolstein record for most consecutive wins. The previous record was 13 straight from Dec. 2008 to Nov. 2009.

The last team to defeat CSU at home was Detroit last season (Feb. 25, 2010).

Most importantly, CSU (18-3, 7-2 Horizon League) are all alone in second-place in the Horizon League standings, a half-game behind first-place Valparaiso (15-5, 7-1), and a half-game ahead of Butler (14-6, 6-2). WSU drops to 13-8 and 6-3 in the Horizon.

Valpo host UW-Green Bay on Sunday and Butler host UW-Milwaukee.

"One of our team goals was to make sure that nobody comes into our house and wins," said Aaron Pogue, who dominated inside with 15 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes. "We have a sign that says "Bring the Pain." In these last two games, we had a sense of urgency to stay undefeated at home."

The Vikings brought the pain as they came out with a defensive mindset and never let WSU's offense get going.

CSU's aggressive pressure defense held the Raiders to 11-for-41 (26.8 percent) from the field for the game.

"I think our guys came out this game pretty focused on the defensive end," said CSU coach Gary Waters who improves to 91-65 in five seasons at CSU, passing Rollie Massimino into third place on CSU's career wins list. "When your playing teams that execute as well as Wright State does at times, you have to be prepared on the defensive end. And I thought our guys with one day to prepare did an excellent job."

It was over very early as CSU jumped out to a 26-11 lead on a pair of free throws from Josh McCoy and extended it to 33-15 on Jeremy Montgomery's 3-pointer. CSU held a 33-20 lead at the half.

"Tonight it really came down to the first ten minutes of the game," said first-year WSU coach Billy Donlon. "We were not ready for (the pace they were playing at). We didn't execute on offense."

The second half was more of the same as CSU continued to dominate as a Trevon Harmon 3-pointer extended the lead to 42-26 with 14:30 remaining.

A pair of free throws from Norris Cole pushed the lead to 20 (59-39) with 4:22 remaining. After that it was on cruise control.

Montgomery, who was in a 10-for-30 slump in his past four games, led the Vikings with 17 points.

"Tonight it felt good, the release and everything," said Montgomery, who was 5-for-8 from the field. "I don't really focus on scoring points because on any given day anyone on this team can play well and tonight it was my day."

Cole nearly had a triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Senior guard Vaughn Duggins was the only WSU player to reach double-figures with 14 points.

The Raiders played without senior forward Cooper Land (knee) and freshman forward Cole Darling (groin).

CSU's next game is Thursday at Illinois-Chicago.

Tom Mieskoski

Trey_Harmon_UIC

Cleveland State kept their chances of hosting the Horizon League Tournament alive with a 81-69 victory over Detroit on Thursday night at the Wolstein Center.

With the win, CSU improves to 17-3 and 6-2 in the Horizon League.

The Vikings are tied for second-place with Wright State (13-7, 6-2 Horizon League), who defeated Youngstown State, 66-62, on Thursday, both trail first-place Valparaiso (14-5, 6-1) by a 1/2 game.

Butler (13-6, 5-2) could join both CSU and WSU in second-place with a win over UW-Green Bay on Friday. Valpo host UW-Milwaukee on Friday.

CSU was led by Trevon Harmon with 22 points, 18 of them coming in the first half as the Vikings took a 39-32 lead at the half.

It was Norris Cole who carried CSU's offense in the second half, scoring 11 of his 18 points in the final 20 minutes. Cole also had a career-high tying 11 assists for his fifth career double-double.

"Norris took over the game (in the second half)," said Waters. "When you have a guard who can take over (the game) that's how you win those kind of games."

Detroit got 16 a piece from junior center Eli Holman and junior forward Nick Minnerath.

After five ties and eight lead changes, CSU finally took the game over late in the second half.

With Detroit leading 60-59, CSU went on a 9-0 run to take a 68-60 lead on a lay-up by Tim Kamczyc and extended it to 74-61 on Kamczyc's 3-pointer with 3:03 remaining.

Kamczyc finished with 10 points.

CSU would seal the game at the free throw line, confidently making 7-of-8 free throws in the final two minutes to preserve the victory.

Free throws played a key role in the game as CSU made 20-of-30 (66.7 percent) from the line in the second half, while Detroit went 7-of-16 (43.8 percent).

"Down the stretch you got to make your free throws," said Detroit coach Ray McCallum. "That's such an emotional let down when you don't come through (at the line). CSU did a nice job of closing it out on the line."

CSU had to overcome Detroit's advantages in rebounding (39-27), points in the paint (40-30), second chance points (26-12) and fast break points (12-4).

The Vikings overcame them by doing what they do best, which is causing turnovers. CSU's pressure defense caused Detroit to turn the ball over 19 times, which led to a 27-16 advantage in points off turnovers for the Vikings.

"We turned them over 19 times," said Waters. "When you turn them over 19 times, that's us getting back to Cleveland State basketball."

The Vikings also got a spark from their bench. After being outscored, 46-4, in their three previous games, CSU's bench came through with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

"Our bench really came through today," said Waters. "They needed (a game like this) to start feeling good for themselves."

The bench got eight points a piece from sophomore forward Charlie Woods and sophomore guard Josh McCoy. Junior center Joe Latas added five points and four rebounds.

"Coach told us we needed to step up," said McCoy. "And I think we took it amongst ourselves to get better in practice. So we came out with energy first on the defensive end and let the offense take care of itself."

WSU visits the Wolstein Center Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be televised by SportsTime Ohio as part of the Horizon League's TV Game of the Week package.

Tom Mieskoski

Norris_Cole_TCF

The Cleveland State men's and women's basketball teams will host two doubleheaders this week at the Wolstein Center.

Both teams will face Detroit tonight (women, 5 p.m.; men, 7:30) and Wright State on Saturday (men, 2 p.m.; women, 4).

The CSU men (16-3, 5-2 Horizon League) need to win both games this week against the Titans (10-9, 4-3) and the Raiders (12-7, 5-2) to stay in the race to host the Horizon League Tournament.

Right now, CSU is in a three-way tie for second-place with Wright State and Butler, all are 5-2 in the conference - a game behind first-place Valparaiso (14-5, 6-1).

"We are right in the mix," said CSU men's basketball coach Gary Waters. "This weekend is a very important weekend for us. Because if we lose this weekend it now puts us out of the picture for some degree. That's why you have to take care of your home situation.

"So this is a tough series for us. We have to someway send out a message in these two games that we are in this picture to play."

CSU has won 12 straight at the Wolstein Center, but the last team to defeat the Vikings at home were the Titans (65-54) on Feb. 25, 2010.

The Vikings have won six of the past nine meetings against the Titans, but Detroit won both games last year. The Titans dominated the Vikings inside last year with their size.

"They (Detroit) are physically dominating," said Waters. "This is probably the most athletic and most physically dominating team in our conference."

Detroit is led by their big three. They are 6-1 freshman guard Ray McCallum (15.2 points, 4.3 assists), 6-6 junior guard Chase Simon (12.6 points) and 6-10 junior center/forward Eli Holman (11.4 points, 10.4 rebounds). A fourth Titan, Jason Calliste, averages 10.9 points per game and ranks ninth in the Horizon in 3-point field goal percentage (39.8).

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Tom Mieskoski

Gary_WatersThe Cleveland State men's basketball team ran into a buzzsaw last week in Indiana - losing both road games at Butler (79-56) and Valparaiso (64-58).

"When you have had two defeats like we had, you want to be back at it so you can regroup yourselves," said CSU men's basketball coach Gary Waters. "But for us, I think it's good [to have the weekend game] because in the Valpo game, I thought Norris (Cole) was tired. And he even told me that I don't have any legs."

In CSU's two losses last week, the Vikings turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 34 times (18 Butler, 15 Valpo), were outscored 38-2 (19-0 Butler, 19-2 Valpo) in bench points and committed 42 fouls (21 in each game).

"These were two tough games," Waters said. "The first game was just a tough, tough game for our team. We did not know the level of intensity that they were going to bring to that game. They came in with a large sense of urgency and you had to match that. We were not prepared to match that sense of urgency.

"In the Valpo game we missed a lot of lay-ups and we had a bad shot selection."

Entering tonight's game at Youngstown State, CSU (15-3, 4-2 Horizon League) are tied for third with Detroit and Wright State, a game behind first-place teams Butler and Valpo, who are both 5-1 in the Horizon League.

The Vikes will try to right the ship against a YSU team that has been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of team this season with two different split personalities.

The Penguins (7-9, 1-5) nearly pulled-off a major upset at Butler this past Sunday - They had an eight point lead with 12 minutes to go, but the Bulldogs went on a 16-2 run to take the lead.

Then there is the YSU team that has lost by 30 at Robert Morris, by 13 at Kent State, and by 30 at home against Loyola-Chicago - all teams CSU have beaten.

So which team will CSU face on Saturday?

"They will be up for this game," said Waters. "It reminds me of the game two years ago when we lost there with our team that went to the NCAAs. If (YSU) could win this game it's the biggest game of their lives.

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