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January 9, 2015Are these really just the “same old Browns?” – WFNY Roundtable
January 9, 2015The Cleveland State Vikings (9-8) defeated the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (5-11) in a back-and-forth matchup Thursday night at the Wolstein Center. CSU hopped on the Grizz early in the first half and led by 17 after the first eight minutes. They found themselves up by just two points with two minutes left in the game, but some clutch defense in the closing moments helped CSU beat Oakland 65-61 to remain undefeated in Horizon League play.
For the Vikings, leading scorer Trey Lewis was held scoreless on 0-of-2 shooting, and second-leading scorer Anton Grady managed just six points on 2-of-6 from the field. That would normally spell doom for CSU, but a balanced scoring attack steadied the Viking ship.
Sophomore guard Andre Yates scored all of his 14 points in the second half, with 10 coming in a four-minute flurry shortly after the intermission. Charlie Lee scored all 13 of his points in the first half and set up his teammates to the tune of 7 assists.
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You don’t really see teams throw [lobs] to the guard, especially at his height.
Trailing 63-61 with 18 seconds left in regulation, Oakland had the ball on the frontcourt baseline. They ran a clever inbounds play, lobbing a pass to 5-foot-9 guard Jahlil Felder, who was defended by the 5-foot-8 Lee in a mouse-versus-mouse-in-the-house situation. Felder caught the pass, power dribbled and elevated into Lee, but his shot was swallowed whole by the help defense of Hales, Grady, and Mason.
“I was surprised,” Lee said of the play, “because you don’t really see teams throw [lobs] to the guard, especially at his height. So when I saw that, I just tried to put my hands straight up, and then Anton and Marlin came over swinging.”
Hales came away from the pack with the ball and went coast-to-coast to lay in the clinching bucket with 10 seconds to go. Oakland’s final pleas to the basketball gods went unanswered, and the Cleveland State held on for the victory.
“That was a hard fought game,” CSU head coach Gary Waters said afterward. “[Oakland is] going to cause some people some trouble in this league. They got size, they got athleticism, and when they’re shooting it, it’s hard to guard them.
“They’re going to be a tough team to deal with.”
It looked like the Vikings would run the Golden Grizzlies clean out of Ohio in the first half. Cleveland State held Oakland scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game and had a 19-2 lead with 11:37 to go in the first half. Lee dominated the early minutes and landed the opening salvos in his big-little battle with Felder.
It was not that easy all night. A combination of sound defense, aggressive drives, and three-point shooting saw Oakland climb back into the conversation. The Golden Grizz went 10-of-11 from the free throw line in the first half—Felder was 6-of-6—and reserve guard Max Hooper connected on both of his efforts from downtown. By halftime, the Vikings 19-2 lead had become 34-30.
Waters, for one, was not surprised by Oakland’s comeback.
“The lead didn’t faze me at all,” Waters said. “I told our team—I don’t care if you look at any college basketball or pro basketball [game]—somebody gets a big lead, somebody’s going to catch it. They’re going to make a run. It’s going to happen throughout. If we got a lead, they’re going to come back and catch us; if they got a lead, we’re going to come back and catch them.
“It’s the second hit that matters.”
Cleveland State was able to make that second hit in the second half thanks in large part to Yates. His points came quickly and gave the Vikings room to breathe. He scored eight straight in 90 seconds, on a layup and two threes. That stretch put CSU up 51-40 with 14:24 to play.
“I just wanted to be more aggressive,” said Yates. “My body frame1 allows me to get to the hole and finish strong. I try my best to attack the lanes, and when I have my opportunities, I take them.”
“Andre had a fabulous game today,” Waters said. “Without Andre’s contribution, it may have been a different outcome.”
Yates’ aggressiveness was especially welcome given Lewis’ struggles. Oakland’s 6-6 forward Dante Williams shadowed the Vikings’ lead guard all night, and his length limited Lewis’ looks at the hoop. Williams did well to fight around screens and seemed to have an arm inside the white No. 3 jersey all night.
“I thought he was a key,” said Waters of Williams. “His height was a problem, and he’s mobile.”
All in all, it was a fine win for Cleveland State. Finding scoring beyond that of Lewis and Grady was a problem early in the season, but Thursday’s game continued a promising stretch of complimentary players stepping up. It was Lee’s fifth straight double-figure scoring effort. Yates has increased his point totals in each of the past three games. Hales’ nine points were the most of his young career.
The win was the Vikes’ third straight in as many conference games, but Waters isn’t getting too excited about it.
“We’ve held serve. I don’t want to make any big thing of it. Now we gotta see if we can go and steal some on the road.”
Cleveland State’s next game is at Valparaiso on Saturday, January 10. It will be broadcast on ESPN3 and also be available on AM 1220 WHKW.
- Yates is a strongly built 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds [↩]