Who’s Over .500? These Guys! Cleveland State beats Wright State

Don’t despair, Cleveland basketball fans. There’s one team with a winning record in the Forest City.

The Cleveland State Vikings (10-9, 4-1 in Horizon League) did not play outstanding basketball Wednesday night in Dayton, where they squared off with the Wright State Raiders (10-8, 2-2). They shot a cover-your-eyes bad 3-of-19 from the three-point line. They committed 15 turnovers and 19 fouls. They were outscored 15 to 7 at the free throw stripe. But unlike, ahem, some teams around town, the Vikings made plays when it counted and defeated the Raiders 55-50.

Neither team scored for two and a half minutes of second-half play after a Marlin Mason layup made the score 49-48 in Wright State’s favor. WSU’s Kendall Griffin split a pair of free throws to put the Raiders up by two with 1:31 to play, and the Vikings were caught in a tough spot.

The offense that looked so sloppy for much of the second half came alive in the closing minutes. Mason found Andre Yates all alone on the left wing, and Yates—who had scored exactly zero points in the game’s first 38-and-a-half minutes—knocked down a three-ball to put CSU up by one with 1:19 to go.

Wright State missed a three on its next possession, Anton Grady hauled in the rebound, and Gary Waters called timeout. The Vikings worked the clock, and the ball swung to Trey Lewis. Lewis, who missed all six of his tries from long range, drove inside, took a bump, made the layup, and got three the hard way to put the Vikes up four with 24 seconds to go.

Wright State missed one last three and Cleveland State got the rebound. Charlie Lee split two freebies to set the final margin, and the Vikings climbed back over .500 for the season.

It wasn’t pretty, but it’ll do. As poorly as the Vikes shot from outside, they converted well in the paint, and those inside conversions lifted them to nearly 48 percent from the field. Anton Grady registered a double-double, scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting and pulling down 10 rebounds. He scored on muscular drop steps and feathery jumpers, and provided a steady offensive presence throughout.

Marlin Mason scored 14, including two of CSU’s three made triples. Trey Lewis added 13, representing a nice bounce back after scoring 5 in the past two games combined. The Viking bench was largely ineffective, though Demonte Flannigan scored three first-half buckets to give CSU an early lift.

The win improves the Vikings’ road record to 3-7. Most of their wounds were self-inflicted in Dayton, and they did well to come away with a victory. They did not force turnovers at their usual rate, but their defense forced Wright State to burn clock and take tough shots.

The Raiders, for their part, will look at this game as one that got away. They shot 15-of-24 from the line, with three misses in the final four minutes. Two of the misses were by Michael Karena on the front end of one-and-ones. Karena played well—he was the game’s high scorer with 18—but those late clankers will be the shots that he remembers most.

Cleveland State is now ranked second in the Horizon League behind only 3-0 Green Bay, the preseason favorite. The Vikings’ next game is Saturday, January 17, at Youngstown State.

Other Notes

• The win was extra sweet for Andre Yates, who was playing in his hometown. Yates attended Dayton Dunbar High, and led his team to a 28-0 record and a state championship in 2012.
• Charlie Lee scored just one point on 0-of-4 shooting, ending a streak of seven consecutive double-digit scoring efforts. He also received a technical in the first half for knocking the ball out of a Raider’s hands after being whistled for a foul.
• A member of the Wright State ROTC rappelled down from the rafters to present the game ball to the officials, which is the most inventive bit of pregame ceremony that I have ever seen. Well done.
• Tom Hanks—as in Hollywood actor Tom Hanks, star of Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and Toy Story—is a major supporter of Wright State’s “Rise.Shine” campaign, and a commercial starring Hanks ran during the telecast. I have no idea when or how this connection was forged, but it was. Check it out:

• Vinny Zollo had a rough night. He scored two points and committed two fouls. Worse, the Wright State announcers mispronounced his surname all night, saying “ZAH-lo” instead of “ZO-lo.” Chin up, Vin.
• The Viking bench did not add much to the action. Freshman guard/Tasmanian devil Terrell Hales went scoreless, as did Kaza Keane. Again: despite the ineffective bench, the frigid long-range shooting, the turnovers, and the fouls, Cleveland State got a victory. These guys will have something to say about how the Horizon League standings shake out.