March 21st, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The 13th-seeded Cleveland State Vikings have this knack of pulling off these first-round shockers during the NCAA tournament. The funny thing is that they duplicated that success once again on Friday in Miami, FL when they raced to an early first-half lead and managed to fend off the 4th-seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the upset win 84-69.
A 3-pointer by Wake Forest’s Devid Weaver put them to within 55-49 with about 11 minutes left in the game, but they could not get any closer; Norris Cole hit a basket then a breakaway layup to put Cleveland State up 66-51 and the margin would climb up to 73-54 with 3 1/12 minutes remaining, sealing the win for the Vikings.
Cleveland State’s high scorer was Cole with 22 points, 4 assists and a steal while J’Nathan Bullock added 21 with 6 rebounds, an assist and a steal; Cedric Jackson chipped in 19 (including three treys) with 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals.
Wake Forest was led by James Johnson with 22 points (including four 3-pointers), 8 rebounds, an assist, a steal and 4 blocks while Al-Farouq Aminu added 17 with 6 rebounds, an assist and 2 blocks. Cleveland State plays again on Sunday when they face Arizona.
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