The Cleveland State Vikings’ run in the 2011 NIT Basketball Tournament is over. The Vikings fell to the Charleston Cougars 64-56 at the Wolstein Center ending their season at 27-9.
As has been the case much of the season, when guard Norris Cole struggles for the Vikings they have a hard time scoring points. Today was no exception as Cole scored 18 points but was just 6-22 from the floor including 0-8 from three point range. The Vikings as a team shot just 1-25(4.0%) from three, marking one of their worst performances of the season. Overall the Vikings shot 33.3% from the field.
Charleston shot the ball much better – 45.7% from the field – including 7-19 from three point range. The VIkings did a solid job on Cougars leading scorer Andrew Goudelock who scored just 13 points on 3-12 from the floor. Together with Cole, the two teams’ leading scores – who average nearly 45 points per game combined – scored 31 points on a combined 0-14 from three point range.
The game was a back and forth affair until Antwaine Wiggins buried 3 of his 11 points, giving the Cougars a 48-46 lead with *:42 to go, a lead the Cougars would never give away.
Cleveland State was held scoreless for nearly 8 minutes in the 2nd half sealing their fate – and their season. Charleston(26-10) will advance to face the winner of the Wichita State – Virginia Tech game in the Quarterfinals.