White Sulphur Springs, WV-The Cleveland State men's basketball team earned a come-from-behind victory to close its trip to the Greenbrier Tip-Off as the Vikings defeated Radford 87-82 on Sunday. Cleveland State improves to 2-3 on the season and finished the tournament at 1-1.
The Vikings trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half and trailed by 10 with just under six minutes remaining before outscoring the Highlanders 23-8 over the final 5:14 of game play to earn the comeback victory.
Four players finished in double figures, led by
Dayan Nessah who led all scorers with 20 points. Nessah shot 55 percent from the field and finished 8-for-13 from the free throw line. He added eight rebounds, an assist and a steal in 28 minutes of action. Nessah has now scored 20 or more points in three of Cleveland State's first five contests.
Josiah Harris recorded his first double-double of the season finishing with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Harris finished 5-for-9 from the field and made four of six from three-point range. He added four assists and two steals to his stat total. The 15 rebounds are a new career-high, one better than the 14 Harris pulled down in last week's home win over Capital.
Tre Beard added 15 points and scored in double figures for the fourth time in five games. Beard was just 3-for-10 from the field but earned his points at the free throw line as he finished 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. Beard led the team with six assists in the game.
Chevalier Emery came off the bench to score 13 points on a perfect 3-for-3 from the field. Emery added six free throws to his scoring total along with two assists.
Foster Wonders chipped in nine points and
Preist Ryan added eight.
Cleveland State got off to a fast start as the Vikings scored the game's first five points. Nessah threw down a one-handed dunk off a back door cut on the opening offensive possession and Harris followed with a three-pointer off a Radford turnover to give the Vikings a 5-0 lead just over a minute in.
The lead turned out to tie the largest lead of the game for Cleveland State and would be the only lead the Vikings would have until the final minutes. Radford quickly responded with a 15-0 run to open up a double-digit lead. The lead ballooned as high as 17 points late in the first half and remained in double figures headed into the halftime break. Radford led 49-36 after 20 minutes.
Radford held the lead for almost 35 minutes of total game action and appeared to be in control with the margin still in double figures with 5:14 remaining. The Highlanders held a 74-64 lead.
Cleveland State then mounted its comeback as the Vikings went on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes of play to cut the deficit to a single point. Emery started the run with a floater in the paint and Harris followed with a three-pointer that forced a Radford timeout with 4:22 remaining and the margin down to five.
Emery converted a free throw on the next CSU possession which cut it to four and then a Wonders three completed the run and made the score 74-73 with 3:06 to play.
Radford converted two free throws on its next offensive possession to stop the run and increase its lead back to three with 2:48 remaining. On the next Cleveland State possession, Harris brought the Vikings all the way back with another three-pointer that tied the score at 76 with 2:29 to play.
The Vikings dug in defensively recording several key stops down the stretch, one of which came with 2:07 to play to keep the score tied. Cleveland State had momentum on its side and Beard continued the trend with a pull-up jumper in the paint that put Cleveland State ahead for good with 1:47 to go.
Radford pulled within one twice in the final minutes but the Vikings were up to the challenge as timely scoring and converting from the free throw line kept Cleveland State in front and secured the comeback win.
After seeing Radford shoot 48 percent from the field in the first half, the Vikings held RU to just 28 percent shooting in the second half and 1-for-16 shooting from long range. This game marked the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
Cleveland State returns home to face off with Valparaiso on Wednesday night at the Wolstein Center. The game marks the annual Homecoming game and will be a "Green Out" as fans are encouraged to wear green. Schedule posters will be available while supplies last.
