Feb. 23, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Cleveland State Head Coach Gary Waters:
"I felt that we allowed Marist to control tempo to long. We got after them defensively and held them to 29 percent shooting. That's pretty good defense, but we were not capitalizing on the offensive end. We had to many turnovers. At the end, our guys fought back and we determined to come out on top."

"The 200 wins is good, but I don't get caught up in that. I just come to work and get the job done."

"I wish BracketBusters would be held earlier. You have to shift gears and prepare for a different team right when you are in the middle of conference play. If there was any change I would make, I'd have it all early because I like inter-conference play."

"There are some positive things about this team that people haven't seen yet. We played in early season tournaments back-to-back-to-back, so we can do that. We are starting to make that shift and playing well on the road because we are growing as a team. We are on a mission."

"They are a good three-point shooting team. Our identity is our defense and we defend three-point shots and in the halfcourt."

"J'Nathan is triple and double teamed all the time so he has to fight through that and still finds a way to produce. If they let him go one-on-one, they wouldn't be able to stop him. J'Nathan is an unselfish player. He doesn't care about numbers, he just wants to win basketball games."

"When Marist cut it to two points, there was no panic. We knew we had to shut them down and execute on offense."

Cleveland State's J'Nathan Bullock:
"They are pretty long and athletic, but I think we were able to get down the floor quicker than them."

"We are right there and in a good spot for this part of the season. We are going to try and continue this run at Youngstown State."

"When I came in, I thought we were going to turn it around right away, but I got a quick reality check. This is the first time that seniors really took pride in this program. Coach Waters really got us to believe in Cleveland State and we love wearing that name across our chests."

Cleveland State's Cedric Jackson:
"We have to have the same mindset and remain focused. We need to keep playing with a lot of confidence.

"We didn't really play our game tonight. We rushed our shots in the first half and didn't attack like we normally do. In the second half, we were patient and got some good looks. In the last four minutes, we made some stops on the defensive end and got what we wanted on the other end."

Marist Head Coach Matt Brady:
"We at Marist recognize that Cleveland State is a terrific defensive team. Gary has done a tremendous job with this team. We had it down to a one possession game, but we couldn't make our free throws. They made some shots down the stretch and we either turned it over or missed layups. If you want to win on the road, you have to make your free throws and we did a poor job of that."

"They are one of the best defensive teams that we have played since I have been at Marist. You don't get a lot of open looks against them and the ones we did, we didn't hit. They played much better than us defensively."