Cleveland, OH-The Cleveland State men's basketball team used a strong second half performance to pull away from Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday night at the Wolstein Center. The Vikings defeated the Yellow Jackets 91-53 to earn the first victory of the 2024-25 campaign and improve to 1-1 on the season.
 
Five players scored in double figures led by Dylan Arnett who paced the team in minutes with 27. Arnett scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. He added eight rebounds, with five coming on the offensive end. Arnett has recorded five offensive boards in each of Cleveland State's first two contests and posted 10 rebounds in the opener at Michigan. His 19 points are a career best.
 
Je'Shawn Stevenson continued his early success finishing with 18 points on 7-of-9 from the floor. Stevenson connected on both of his three-point tries and added an assist and two steals.
 
Cole Franklin showed his scoring capability finishing with 15 points on 7-of-10 from the field. Franklin tallied six rebounds and was active on the defensive end grabbing four steals.
 
Another newcomer who had a big night was Reece Robinson. Robinson finished with 11 points and four rebounds and was 4-of-6 shooting. The majority of his points came in the second half including a fast break dunk with just under 11 minutes to play which brought the entire Viking bench to its feet.
 
Tevin Smith posted his first career double-double and his first double-digit rebounding performance finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Smith shot 50 percent from the field and was perfect on four free throw attempts.
 
Cleveland State controlled the game throughout, as the Vikings led for over 38 minutes of game play. Cleveland State carried an eight-point lead into the halftime locker room at 43-35.
 
The Vikings blew it open in the second half, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 48-18. An 18-0 Cleveland State run midway through the second half pushed the lead to 30 points and allowed the Vikings to coast to the finish line.
 
Cleveland State shot 56 percent from the field in the game and finished 14-19 from the free throw line which was good for 73 percent.
 
Cleveland State heads back on the road for its third game of the opening week of the regular season as the Vikings travel to Kansas State for a non-conference game scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.