Cleveland, OH-The Cleveland State men's basketball team cruised to an exhibition victory Wednesday night as the Vikings defeated Lourdes 84-49 inside Woodling Gymnasium. Cleveland State controlled the game throughout, as the Vikings never trailed and held the lead for over 39 of the game's 40 minutes.
 
CSU featured a balanced offensive attack as 11 of the 12 players who saw action scored at least two points. Every player who played registered double-digit minutes.
 
Three Vikings finished in double figures led by freshman Je'Shawn Stevenson who scored a game-high 18 points. Stevenson finished 6-of-9 from the field and connected on three of four from beyond the three-point arc. He finished 3-of-4 from the free throw line and registered three steals.
 
Tahj Staveskie finished with 11 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and Jalin Rice added 10 points on 3-of-5 from the floor. Rice was also perfect at the free throw line connecting on all four of his attempts.
 
The freshman group of Stevenson, Reece Robinson and Tyler Spratt were all up to the task in their first collegiate game action. Robinson finished with nine points, two rebounds and two assists. Spratt scored two points and added five rebounds and a steal to his stat line.
 
Cleveland State finished at 51 percent from the field and 44 percent (8-18) from three-point range. CSU used a decisive 41-26 edge on the glass as well as forcing 24 Lourdes turnovers, which were converted into 35 points. Lourdes shot 31 percent from the field.
 
The game was back-and-forth early on as both teams settled in. The lone tie of the night came at the 11:58 mark of the first half as it was 14-14.
 
Cleveland State seized control as the Vikings clamped down on defense, holding Lourdes to just four points over the next seven minutes of action. A Staveskie three-pointer at the 4:57 mark made it 31-18 CSU.
 
The Staveskie triple kick-started Cleveland State's largest run of the game, as CSU closed the first half by reeling off 12 straight points to open up a 40-18 lead with under two minutes to go in the half.
 
The Vikings led 40-20 at the break and kept the lead in double digits the rest of the way. The margin ballooned as large as 39 points late in the second half.
 
Cleveland State opens the regular season on Monday, November 4 as the Vikings travel to Ann Arbor for an opening night matchup against the University of Michigan. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. Cleveland State returns home for its first game in the Wolstein Center on Wednesday, November 6 against Baldwin Wallace.