CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State had five players in double figures and defeated Canisius, 67-64, in the home opener on Tuesday night in the Wolstein Center.

STAT LEADERS

• Rob Edwards led five Vikings in double figures with 17 points and four rebounds.
• Bobby Word finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Word's tip-in with 15 seconds to play gave the Vikings a 67-64 lead.
• Derek Sloan posted career-highs with 10 points and seven rebounds, hitting 5-of-7 from the field.
• Kasheem Thomas had another strong effort at point guard, totaling 10 points, six rebounds and seven assists. He did not commit a turnover in 34 minutes of action.
• Jibri Blount added 10 points and five rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Canisius led for a majority of the first half, opening up a six point lead (23-17) with 8:42 left. The Vikings would pull within one on several occasions before a Golden Griffin basket with one second left in the half gave them a 36-31 lead at the intermission.
• Canisius opened up its largest lead of the game (40-33) early in the second half, but seven straight points allowed CSU to knot the contest at 40-40 on an Edwards three-pointer with 17:18 to play.
• A Word jumper with 14:57 left gave the Vikings a 44-42 lead, but a 9-4 run by Canisius gave them a 51-48 lead with 12:23 to play.
• The Vikings responded with a 13-6 run, capped by an Edwards three-pointer with 5:06 left that gave CSU a 61-57 lead.
• Canisius would cut the lead to one point two more times, but would get no closer the rest of the night as Word's tip-in with 15 seconds left pushed the CSU lead to three points.
• Canisius got a three-pointer off, but Sloan grabbed a loose ball around midcourt as the horn sounded. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Vikings held a 35-29 advantage on the glass and committed just 10 turnovers
• CSU scored 34 points in the paint.
• The Vikings shot .467 (28-60) from the field and took just five free throws, making four.
• CSU was 15-of-29 (.517) from the floor in the second half, out-scoring Canisius, 36-28, over the final 20 minutes.
• Canisius shot 23-of-54 (.426) from the floor and was led by Jermaine Crumpton who scored 21 points. Kiefer Douse had 10 rebounds.

QUOTEABLE

• "We had five guys in double figures and that means we have everyone contributing. I thought our defense won the game for us. They run as good of an offense as you will see and I think we needed to go against a team like that."
          Head Coach Gary Waters

• "I knew that I had to crash the offensive glass. When I was in the air, I wasn't sure if I should pull it out, or shoot it, but I guess it was a good bucket in that situation to give us a three-point lead."
          Bobby Word on his basket with 15 seconds left to give CSU a 67-64 lead

UP NEXT

• The Vikings travel to Tennessee-Martin for an 8:00 pm ET contest on Friday (Nov. 18) in CSU's second of four games in the Bluegrass Showcase.