GAME #30
Cleveland State (10-19, 6-12) vs. Northern Kentucky (17-12, 9-9)
Wednesday, February 25 | 7:00 pm | Wolstein Center
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SETTING THE SCENE 
The Vikings enter the final week of the regular season with a pair of games, starting with the home finale on Wednesday at 7 p.m. versus Northern Kentucky. Cleveland State boasts a 10-19 overall record and a 6-12 mark in the league, while the Norse are 17-12 overall and 9-9 in the Horizon League. 

REGULAR SEASON FINALE 
Cleveland State concludes the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Robert Morris with a start time of 2 p.m. 

A WIN ON WEDNESDAY WOULD… 
End a five-game losing streak…Get the Green and White back to .500 at home this season at 7-7…Split the season series for a fifth straight year…Make it eight straight home wins versus the Norse. 

GETTING IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM 
The Cleveland State men's basketball team had the highest GPA in the department for men's sports with a 3.62 GPA. Ten players were named to the Dean's List while the entire team had a GPA above 3.00. 

LAST GAME OUT 
The Vikings were dealt a 92-86 loss to Purdue Fort Wayne on Senior Day despite four players reaching double-figure points. Chevalier Emery received his first start and led the offense with 21 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Jaidon Lipscomb was next with 20 points, Tre Beard with 13 points, and Josiah Harris with 14 points off the bench. 

The six seniors that were recognized prior to the contest finished with 59 points.  The Vikings pulled down 31 rebounds, led by Harris who had eight. Twenty-one of Cleveland State's baskets were assisted, with Beard distributing six. CSU forced 13 turnovers and scored 13 points off those turnovers. 

#THROWBACK TO FIRST MEETING 
Cleveland State dropped its Horizon League opener with Northern Kentucky on December 3 by a score of 95-80. Three Vikings tallied double-digit points led by 23 points from Lipscomb. Beard added 20 points, Daviden Giddens had a season-best 14 points. 

NKU jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game, and the Norse lead hovered around nine until stretching it to 14 at the 4:35 mark, the same margin that NKU would lead at the half, 47-33. 

Cleveland State started the second half on a 14-2 run to cut the lead to 49-47 with 16:40 remaining in the game. CSU was able to grab the lead after three made free throws by Lipscomb at the 14:29 mark, 52-51. NKU grabbed the lead back at the 13:31 mark and did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game. 

ABOUT NORTHERN KENTUCKY 
Northern Kentucky sports a 17-12 record and is coming off a 64-58 loss at Youngstown State on Sunday afternoon. NKU has had its struggles on the road with a 5-8 mark. The Norse have four players averaging double-digit points led by Donovan Oday with 18.5 points per game.

Dan Gherezgher averages 15.8 points, LJ Wells with 13.9 points, and Kael Robinson rounds out the group with 13.8 points. LJ Wells averages seven rebounds per game and Ethan Elliot is the top assist man at 115. 

OVER/UNDER FOR THE WIN 
The Vikings are 7-1 this season when shooting better than 50 percent from the field, with the only loss coming in their last home game against Wright State. 

Cleveland State is 8-6 on the year when scoring more than 80 points. 

LEADING THE WAY FOR THE VIKINGS 
Cleveland State has four double-digit scorers, led by Nessah with 15.5 points per game on 55.3 percent shooting. Beard is close behind with 13.3 points, followed by Lipscomb with 12.8 points, and Emery rounding out the group at 12.7 points per game. 

Nessah has pulled down 166 total boards to top the squad and has a team-best 46 offensive boards. Lipscomb is tops in assists with 84. 

LETHAL DUO FROM LONG RANGE
Lipscomb and Beard hold the top two three-point field goal percentage in the league. Beard is shooting 42.2 percent from beyond the arc, while Lipscomb is shooting 42.1 percent. 

In the NCAA, Beard is 24th in three-point percentage and Lipscomb is 26th. 

LETTING IT FLY FROM DEEP 
Cleveland State has reached double digits in three-pointers in 19 of its 27 games this season. The top five marks this season are 17 against Oakland and then 16 four-times versus Green Bay, Purdue Fort Wayne, Youngstown State, and Purdue Fort Wayne. 

NESSAH NAILING IT 
Nessah is seventh in the league, averaging 15.4 points per game, and is seventh in the league with 6.3 rebounds per contests. The sophomore ranks 13th in the league in free throw percentage at 75.0 percent. 

BREAKING DOWN BEARD 
Beard averages 13.3 points per game which is 19th in the league and averages 3.3 assists per game which is 11th in the Horizon League.  

He is tops in three-point percentage at 42.2 percent and three-pointers made at 3.1. The senior is third in assist/turnover ratio at 3.0 and is shooting 88.4 percent at the charity stripe. 

PROTECTING THE PAINT 
Pierre-Louis has 32 blocks this season, averaging 1.4 per game, which ranks fourth in the league.

GOT THAT DEEP BALL RECORD 
Four times this season, Cleveland State reached the previous record of 16 three-pointers and set the record with 17 made against Oakland on Feb. 4 in Woodling Gymnasium.

The Vikings got to the 16 made mark, at Purdue Fort Wayne (1/4/26), at Green Bay (1/30/26), at Youngstown State (2/18/26), and Purdue Fort Wayne (2/22/26). 

In the record setting game against OU, the Green and White had just five long balls at the half before exploding with 12 in the second half. 

TWICE IS NICE 
Nessah has twice been named the Horizon League Player of the Week and is the only Viking to receive this honor. He claimed the first after picking up a double-double at Wright State with 31 points and 10 rebounds, to go along with five assists. 
 
The following week, he repeated as the award winner after averaging 18.5 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists during the Wisconsin trip. 

WISCONSIN SWEEP 
Cleveland State has been making the trip to Wisconsin for a pair of games for nearly 30 years, completing the sweep for just the fourth time, with the last coming under Coach Gates in 2021-22. 

COACHES SHOW 
You can listen to the weekly Rob Summers radio show at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, on SportsRadio 99.1.