Trying to continue their hot start to the Horizon League games, CSU (9-6, 3-1 Horizon coming into the meeting) kept their great defense going with another fun (albeit scary) game against IU-Indianapolis (5-11, 1-4).
Home Game vs. IU-Indy
With Reece Robinson starting again in place of Isaac Abidde (still recovering from illness but he would play), the rest of the normal lineup was there for the Vikings (Tevin Smith, Dylan Arnett, Ebrima Dibba, and Tahj Staveskie).
The game started with two horrible possessions by both sides before Robinson scored the VIkings’ first points. Arnett came up big on the next defensive with a steal and dunk as he was fouled. He would miss the free throw but got another two points on the very next play. A five-second call on the Jaguars in-bounds play showed how far apart these two teams are at this point in the season.
Smith decided to get in on the scoring and after missing a short shot, he got his own rebound and putback. A monster rebound on the defensive end and a crazy jumper from the side of the basket and he had a quick four points.
At the first media timeout, CSU had 10 points and IU-Indy was held scoreless. They would eventually score on a three by Jarvis Walker to cut the lead to seven. Four free throws made out of five chances would further cut the lead to 10-7 and the Vikings couldn’t find their offense until Arnett put the drought to rest with back-to-back layups.
Chase Robinson added a steal and layup of his own to put the Vikings up 16-10 at the second media timeout at 11:22 left in the half. The Vikes finally got their first three to fall as Abidde hit one to go up 19-10. But the Jaguars continued to fight back and closed it to 19-18 in the blink of an eye.
Non-three-point-shooter Dibba also saw an opportunity to shoot and it went down as well. But this half was the Jaguars day from deep. They started the game 5-10 from three (as the Vikings started 2-8) to tie the score at 24. The last few minutes of the half would be incredibly tight as the score continued to go back-and-forth before showing 33-30 Vikings as the teams went to their locker rooms.
The Jaguars continued their hot shooting by hitting a three right out of the half to tie the score again. The Vikings grew a four-point lead twice but again…IU-Indy kept coming. Staveskie would only stop this with his first three of the contest to go up by five.
After the Jaguars closed it to one, Arnett had his trademark monster dunk of the game to go back up three. Staveskie would double this lead with another three, but the Jaguars of course hit their own three right after.
Star freshman Je’Shawn Steveson finally got on the board with a pair of free throws off a steal before IU-Indy was forced to call a timeout after being unable to get the ball in. A pair of missed CSU free throws and a pair of made free throws on the other end had the game at a scary 50-48 with just under ten minutes left.
A flagrant foul by Smith somehow only ended with one point as the second free throw was missed and then the Jaguars forced up a horrible shot. A miss on offense for the Vikings and a three by IU-Indy silenced the gym as the score was tied at 52, but Sandusky-native “Top Thrill” Tahj hit another three to go back on top.
As with the rest of the game, this wasn’t enough. IU-Indy came right back and took the lead 56-55 before a pair of Staveskie free throws and an IU-Indy turnover (combined with a beautiful drive by Steveson) put the VIkes back up three.
The Jaguars grabbed two quick points but an amazing offensive possession put the Vikings up four with 2:16 left. Three offensive rebounds all led to…of course…another Staveskie three. By this point, both teams were running full court presses and the game was super sped up. The Jaguars would feel this on the next possession by committing a travel.
Another chance at a monster slam by Arnett was stifled by a foul and he missed both free throws. The Jaguars would pull down some big offensive rebounds but could not connect on a shot. Smith essentially iced the game with two free throws with 39.9 seconds to go.
The Jaguars would come up empty on their next possession and were forced to foul Arnett with 23.8 seconds left. He would split the pair and IU-Indy would hit another three but with only 13.7 seconds to go, there wasn’t much the Jaguars could do.
Two more free throws by Smith and a long missed three by the Jaguars and it was over. 67-61 was the final score for the Vikings as they got their 10th win on the season.
Key Takeaways:
- CSU came into the game shooting great from three in their conference games. This game was different as they went 6-20 (30%) but they were able to put together enough other scoring by outscoring the Jaguars by 10 points on fast breaks and 12 in the paint.
- Staveskie finished with a game-high 20 points. Only four of those came in the first half and his offense down the stretch was game-changing. A perfect 4-4 at the foul line also shows how important he is to the Vikings. After the game, Staveskie pointed to the turnovers and fast breaks as leading to a lot of these points.
- CSU continues to protect the ball as they only committed six turnovers. Compare that to the 14 the Jaguars committed and that’s essentially the game.
- CSU was out-rebounded by IU-Indy, which is something to maybe watch going forward. CSU has been rebounding very well to start the season, especially Arnett, who was held to only three all game. Arnett did make up for this with his perfect 7-7 from the field and 15 points.
- CSU may have had a less than stellar offensive game compared to the last few weeks but their defense continues to drive the team towards success. Continuing to change their defensive looks all game led to difficult shots for the Jaguars and this helped the Vikings only give up 61 points. Smith pointed to this as the game plan after the game, “we knew it was going to be…a defensive game. All they do is dribble-drive-kick…that’s one of the hardest things to guard.” Coach Daniyal Robinson also added that IU-Indy runs “a ton of great action in the half court” when pointing to the Vikings pressing full court and changing up their defense throughout the game.
Next up for the Vikings:
CSU travels to Robert Morris this Wednesday at 7 PM EDT.
