Highland Heights, KY-The Cleveland State men's basketball team saw its 13-game win streak snapped on Wednesday night at the hands of Northern Kentucky. The Norse broke open a tie ballgame, outscoring the Vikings by ten in the second half to win 85-75. Cleveland State falls to 17-7 overall and 11-2 in conference play, while Northern Kentucky improves to 11-13 and 6-7. Cleveland State remains in first place in the league standings.
Tevin Smith led a quartet of Vikings in double figures finishing with 18 points on 5-for-10 from the field. Smith connected of 3-for-6 from three-point range and finished 5-of-7 from the free throw line.
Dylan Arnett tallied 17 points on an efficient 7-for-11 shooting from the field. Arnett finished with three rebounds and four assists on the night.
Je'Shawn Stevenson finished with 11 points and
Tahj Staveskie chipped in 10.
NKU out-rebounded Cleveland State 34-29 and won the battle in the paint 40-26. The Vikings led for four minutes in the early going but the Norse held the lead for over 34 minutes of action as the game headed down the stretch.
The Vikings got off to a good start, with back-to-back buckets by Smith and Staveskie put the visitors up 4-0. A
Reece Robinson three-pointer a few minutes later gave CSU a 10-8 lead headed into the first media timeout.
With the score tied at 14 at the 14:06 mark of the first half, NKU made its first run as the Norse opened up a seven-point lead at 21-14 with 10:44 remaining in the first half.
The Norse lead grew as large nine with 6:31 to play in the opening half, before the Vikings responded with a run of their own to draw back within one possession. An 8-0 CSU run was capped by an Arnett put-back layup to make it 32-31 NKU with 3:24 left in the half.
The two teams played virtually even the rest of the half, with the score tied at 36 at the break.
NKU opened the second half scoring the first six points to take a 42-36 lead just under three minutes in. The Vikings made several attempts to draw within striking distance throughout the second half, but each time NKU had an answer to remain in front. The Norse lead grew as large as 14 late in the half before a late Viking rally narrowed the gap to the final ten-point margin.
Cleveland State returns home to host Milwaukee on Saturday at the Wolstein Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 as part of a doubleheader with the women's basketball team, who will take on Oakland at noon.
