Free-throw woes derail Vikings in loss

Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates said his illconsidered choice of a defense in the closing seconds led to the Vikings’ 64-62 loss to Illinois-Chicago on Feb. 1 at the Wolstein Center.

With 48 seconds remaining, the Vikings took a 6259 lead on a driving layup by sophomore forward Deante “Spider” Johnson. Johnson had cashed in another layup one minute earlier to put the Vikings

ahead, 60-59, after a sustained comeback from deficits as large as eight points early in the second half.

After the second of Johnson’s buckets, Gates said, he called for a trap defense on high-scoring UIC senior guard Marcus Ottey. Foiling the attempt to ride him off the ball, Ottey accepted a pass from teammate Michael Diggins and buried a 3-pointer to pull the Flames even at 62-62.

Ottey again pierced the CSU defense to grab an offensive rebound and get up a shot with just over two seconds remaining. Fouled on the play by CSU sophomore guard Tre Gomiilion, Ottey made both free throws to clinch the hardfought win.

“I put my team in a bad situation. I take the blame for the loss” Gates said.

The Vikings put themselves in a bad situation in the second half with a woeful performance at the free-throw line. They were 13 of 23 from the line, including two misses by Gomillion with 11 seconds remaining.

“This is a tough loss for

THE SCORE UIC 64, CSU 62

our guys,” Gates said. “We had the game in our grasp and it got away. That’s what hurts.”

CSU slipped to 9-15 overall and 5-6 in the Horizon League. Junior point guard Craig Beaudion paced the Vikings with 12 points.

Ottey netted a gamehigh 15 points for the Flames (10-14, 6-5 Horizon League).

CSU returns to action on Feb. 8 at Youngstown State. Tipoff is 6 p.m.