MILWAUKEE – Cleveland State (9-14, 5-7 Horizon League) won a thriller on the road against Milwaukee (9-15, 5-8 Horizon League), 90-88 inside UWM Panther Arena.
Senior guard
Jaidon Lipscomb (Columbus, Ohio) had a game-high 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting, all from the three-point line.
Sophomore forward
Dayan Nessah (Geneva, Switzerland) posted his fourth double-double of the year after going for 19 points and 13 rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting and 7-of-10 from the free throw line.
Junior guard
Chevalier Emery (Appleton, Wisconsin) added 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting while senior guard
Tre Beard (Chillicothe, Ohio) knocked down three from deep and a total of 17 points.
As a team, Cleveland State was 28-of-56 (50.0%) from the field and 14-of-36 (38.9%) from the three-point line. CSU weas 20-of-26 (76.9%) from the free throw line. The Vikings held Milwaukee to 29-of-58 (48.3%) shooting and 11-of-29 (37.9%) from deep. The Panthers were 21-of-27 (77.8%) from the charity stripe.
Nessah led the way with a career-high and game-high 13 rebounds, while CSU pulled down 30 as a team.
Sixteen of Cleveland State's 28 makes were assisted, with Nessah leading in that category as well. Beard added four helpers.
Cleveland State scored the first bucket of the game 43 seconds into the contest and would not trail for the remainder of the game. The Vikings' largest lead of the first half was eight, but Milwaukee tied the game at 36-36 with 1:30 left in the first half. CSU ended on a small run and went into the break up 44-39.
The Vikings shot 15-of-31 (48.4%) in the first half and knocked down six from deep.
Cleveland State pushed its lead after its largest run of the night to make the contest 66-54. Milwaukee continued to chip away at the Vikings' lead and was down five with 10 seconds left. The Panthers hit two free throws and then tied the game with a three with three seconds left. Lipscomb was fouled at the midline with just over one second left and hit two game-winning free throws.
Cleveland State returns home to take on Oakland on Wednesday, February 4 at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at CSUVikings.com and the game can be watched live on ESPN+ and locally on Rock Entertainment Sports Network.
