CLEVELAND – Cleveland State (10-17, 6-10 Horizon League) fell to Wright State (17-10, 12-4 Horizon League), 102-90, on Sunday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.
"We have to be able to adapt and we did in the second half," head coach
Rob Summers said. "Today showed me a lot about their resiliency."
Junior guard
Chevalier Emery (Appleton, Wisconsin) posted a career-high 30 points on 13-of-18 shooting. Emery was 2-of-4 from the three-point line.
"Chevalier is a guy who can really score and he's a Sixth Man of the Year candidate," Summers added. "He's somebody who has bought into the role of coming off the bench and providing us scoring."
Junior forward
Josiah Harris (Canton, Ohio) added 14 points with a season-high four threes after going 4-of-5 from the three-point line. Sophomore forward
Dayan Nessah (Geneva, Switzerland) rounded out the double-digit scoring for the Vikings. Eight Vikings were in the scoring column.
As a team, Cleveland State shot 34-of-66 (51.5%) from the field and 12-of-28 (42.9%) from the three-point line. The Vikings were 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the free throw line. Wright State was 34-of-55 (61.8%) overall and 12-of-17 (70.6%) from deep. The Raiders were 22-of-29 (75.9%) from the free-throw line.
The Vikings pulled down 21 rebounds with Harris leading the way at six. Eighteen of CSU's 34 made baskets were assisted, with Nessah paced with five.
Cleveland State forced 13 turnovers and recorded seven steals while only turning the ball over 10 times.
CSU was down 51-36 at the break but cut the lead to six with an 11-0 run out of the gate in the second half. Wright State was able to push the lead back to 17 in the second half. CSU trimmed the lead to nine with 1:49 left after a pair of Emery threes but could not inch closer and fell, 102-90.
The Vikings head back on the road to take on Youngstown State on Wednesday, February 18 at 6:30 p.m. The game can be watched live on ESPN+ and can be heard on Sports Radio 99.1.