Feb. 11, 2008

Final Stats |  Quotes |  Notes

Contact: Brian McCann

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State won its second straight, downing league rival Green Bay 81-64 Monday night at the Wolstein Center. J'Nathan Bullock led the team in scoring for the second straight night.

With the win, the Vikings improve to 16-10 (9-5 HL), a half game behind second-place Wright State. The Phoenix drop to 14-10 (5-7 HL), and sit in sixth place in the league.

Bullock scored a career-high 39 points on 13-for-14 shooting (2-for-2 three-pointers, 5-for-6 free throws). His performance was the best single-game total by a Viking since Franklin Edwards set the school record with 49 points on Feb. 25, 1981. Bullock's night was also the highest single-game scoring output by any Horizon League player this season.

"There were some things that occurred that gave us some encouragement and allowed us to take a step forward," head coach Gary Waters said, "We got inside of them and in my estimation, J'Nathan had one of the most fabulous games since I have been here. We set a new mission for ourselves after our five game losing streak and I think our guys are back now."

Bullock made his first 11 field goals in the game before his first miss, and his final shooting percentage (.928) was the fourth highest single game average in school history. The Vikings took advantage of 21 Green Bay turnovers, while committing only 16. CSU also recorded 11 steals.

"I said today we must go out and play and shoot with confidence," Waters said, "I told the team that we had to play much harder than our opponent. And the last statement I made was that we had to play together."

The first half began well for the Vikings. After George Tandy scored the first basket, Cedric Jackson recorded a steal to send the ball back down the court to increase the lead to 4-0.

With the lead attained, the Vikings would continue to apply pressure on the offensive end of the court, with J'Nathan Bullock leading the way. Bullock made all seven of his field goal attempts, went 1-for-1 on three pointers and 2-for-3 free throws to give him a game high 17 points at the half.

"You can't go that many games in a row with bad shooting and eventually something good was going to happen," Waters said, "We are attacking it more as opposed to just moving it around. I had to see what our problem was and the conclusion I came to is that we were not getting enough movement. And that's what we spent yesterday and today on."

The Vikings used a quick 11-2 run from 11:16 in the first half to the 6:58 mark. At that point, a jumper by Bullock gave the Vikings a 12 point lead, their largest of the first half.

The Phoenix mounted a modest comeback at that point. They outscored the Vikings 18-6 to close out the half from the 6:58 mark on, and sent the game to the half with the score tied, 37-37.

The Vikings would intensify the pressure in the second half, outscoring the Phoenix 44-27 overall for the remainder of the game. Bullock added another 22 points in the second half.

Breyohn Watson was CSU's only other scorer in double figures, with a career high 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting and 2-for-4 on free throws. Cedric Jackson also shone on Monday evening with nine points (3-for-10 FG, 2-for-2 FT), eight assists, and seven rebounds. Jackson was tied for the team lead in rebounds for the game with Bullock, who also grabbed seven.

The Phoenix were led in their losing effort by Mike Schantner, who scored a team-high 13 points (6-for-12 FG).

The Vikings return to action on Thursday (Feb. 14) for a game on the road against Valparaiso. The game will be played at Valpo's Athletics Recreation Center and will begin at 7:05 p.m. EST.