Cleveland, OH-The Cleveland State men's basketball team bounced back in a big way on Saturday, avenging one of its two conference losses thus far by taking down Milwaukee 77-60 at the Wolstein Center. The Vikings have won 14 of their last 15 games and remain in first place in the Horizon League standings at 12-2 as well as improving to 18-7 overall. Milwaukee falls to 16-9 and 9-5 in the league.
The Vikings jumped out to a big lead with a strong first half on both ends of the floor. Cleveland State led by 21 points at the break. Smooth shooting and lockdown defense gave the Vikings the halftime advantage, and although Milwaukee made things crunchy in the second half, the Vikings worked out of the jam and sandwiched together two strong halves to bring home the victory.
Tahj Staveskie led all scorers in the game with a career day finishing with 30 points. Staveskie connected on 11-for-16 from the field and was a sizzling 5-for-8 from three-point range. He was perfect on three free throws, added three rebounds and led the team with four assists.
Tevin Smith had another big night with 15 points. Smith has now scored in double figures in six straight games and 17 of the last 18. He shot 40 percent from the field and was perfect on six attempts from the free throw line.
Dylan Arnett was the third Viking in double figures with 10 points to go along with seven rebounds. Arnett finished 3-for-7 from the field and 4-for-6 from the free throw line.
Cleveland State got off to a fast start with a pair of Smith free throws and an and-one finish by Staveskie to give the Vikings the first five points of the contest. Cleveland State led wire-to-wire and never trailed in the game.
Cleveland State extended its early run to 13-2 in the game's first six minutes. Staveskie drilled a three-pointer on the fast break to give the Vikings their first double-digit lead and force a Milwaukee timeout with 14:42 to go in the first half.
The lead remained eleven at the halfway point of the half as a Smith dunk with 9:56 to go made it 21-10 CSU.
Cleveland State closed the half with a surge that put the momentum squarely on the side of the Vikings headed into the locker room. The Vikings finished the half on a 7-0 run to open up their largest lead of the game headed into the break. Staveskie connected on a jumper, and Smith added the final five points on two free throws and a three-pointer that caught all net just as the first half buzzer sounded, igniting the Wolstein Center crowd and giving the Vikings a 41-20 halftime advantage.
The Vikings held the Panthers to 19 percent shooting in the first half and Milwaukee was held without a three-pointer finishing 0-for-5.
The Panthers responded in the second half with a 12-0 run coming out of the halftime break to trim the Viking lead back to nine in the first five minutes of the half.
Staveskie steadied the boat out of a media timeout with a three-pointer at the 14:42 mark that pushed the lead back to 12 at 44-32.
The Panthers attempted to chip away as the half wore on but could not draw closer than seven points the rest of the way. Cleveland State pushed the lead back to double digits with a late surge and finished the game with a 17-point margin of victory. Each of Cleveland State's last six victories have come by double figures.
The Vikings remain at home this week as Cleveland State is set to host two games at the Wolstein Center. The first comes Wednesday against Robert Morris, with an in-state matchup against Youngstown State scheduled for Sunday on national television. Tickets for both games can be purchased by visiting csutickets.evenue.net.
