13 going on…Top 25? Vikings beat Purdue-Fort Wayne to continue amazing run

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Photo by Greg Kula

What does someone even say about CSU (16-6, 10-1 Horizon League) these days? Going into a meeting at second-place Purdue-Fort Wayne (15-7, 8-3 HL), this was the game the Vikings were supposed to lose. Facing a high-powered offense away from home? That screams the end of the 12-game winning streak. But CSU showed why defense wins championships and now they are on a 13-game wining streak.

Away game at Purdue-Fort Wayne

After all the random lineups at the beginning of the season, the Vikings now find their starting five solidified. Tevin Smith, Tahj Staveskie, Ebrima Dibba, Dylan Arnett, and Reece Robinson once again took the floor together looking to continue their cohesive play.

Some good ol’ Vikings defense happened on the first time down but a Mastodon steal on a bad pass by Arnett led to a score plus free throw to start the day. The Mastodon free throw would not fall (a start to their shaky shooting day) and Smith would put the Vikings in front with a three.

Smith was next fouled on a drive and made both free throws. Immediately following these free throws, CSU started to pressure PFW in a three-quarter court press. They almost forced a turnover and Smith almost grabbed a steal, but a foul was called.

Chase Robinson didn’t think this was enough pressure as he grabbed a steal and bucket after coming in for Smith. This put the Vikings on top 7-2 before a PFW three cut the lead to two. 

The Vikings continued their offensive explosion with an Arnett put-back on a Reece Robinson miss and then a deep three by Staveskie. The scoreboard showed 12-5 at the first media timeout but PFW was fouled directly before the stoppage. They split the free throws before getting another bucket and the score sat at 12-8 with 12:00 to go in the half. The Vikings had been held scoreless between the two media timeouts.

Cole Franklin threw in a bucket (a great sight to see as he is still coming back from injury) before Chase Robinson hit a three to go up 17-8. Je’Shawn Stevenson (Horizon League Freshman of the Year?) next got into the action as he flew into the air for a crazy block.

Another steal by CSU led to what seemed to be another Chase Robinson three but it was only a two. Either way, the Vikings were up 11. A PFW three cut the lead slightly but Franklin kept the good times rolling for the Vikings with a great shot that rolled in. 

Continuing their stifling defense, CSU forced PFW to step out-of-bounds with a trap to force another turnover. Staveskie hit another three but PFW had two threes of their own to cut the deficit to eight with just under a minute to go in the half.

The Vikings must have wanted double digits going into halftime. A great pass and a monster dunk by Arnett put the Vikings up 35-25 at the break. Arnett then continued his great game with a block (or better yet, a swat) right out of halftime.

Smith and Reece Robinson persisted the Vikings’ hot shooting with two threes to grow the lead to 41-29 and it all but looked over for PFW. 

The Mastodons was getting to the basket much easier to start the half but they could not get close enough to CSU on the scoreboard to truly make it close.

It’s not a CSU game unless there’s a weird call. This game had a shot clock violation annulled due to the ball hitting the basket before the shot that eventually went in (after the shot clock expired). The referees conferred, reviewed the play, and granted CSU the basket. 

Smith was much more active in the second half as he wasn’t on the bench in foul trouble and got to the line twice in a row (making three out of four).

But the real star guard of the day was Chase Robinson who hit another three then threw up a crazy shot as he was falling down and getting fouled. The basket and free throw went in and the Vikings continued to dominate.

Smith didn’t want to be completely outdone and made his own difficult jumper from the side of the basket. Stevenson next got to the line at the under 8-minute media timeout as the Vikings were up 12. He would miss the first but make the second to balloon the lead to 13-points.

PFW continued to try to get the game closer as they cut it to 10 with about five minutes left and 9 with about three minutes left. But time was running out. They got a steal to cut it back to 7 points but Chase Robinson saved the day yet again. How do you build on a monstrous day on the offensive side coming off the bench? You hit another three as the shot clock expires to put your team up 10. 

It was all but over yet when PFW made it a 9-point game with 55.1 seconds left they called a timeout. In another wild play, Smith’s shoe came off but he still managed to run down the court and score another basket for CSU.

A three-point play by PFW with a little over 30 seconds left cut the deficit to eight before they stole the inbounds pass from CSU. They missed a long three and then another three and then fouled Chase Robinson. It was over and done. CSU were winners of 13 in a row with a final of 68-58. 

Key takeaways:

  1. Chase Robinson might not be starting right now but he is possibly the most important player for the Vikings. His ability to run the point and also get good shots up settles down the team every game. He finished this game with 20 points and six rebounds while shooting a perfect 5-5 at the line.
  2. The announcers must have mentioned the bad shooting PFW shooting performance 25 times. They finished 5-32 from three and 7-15 at the line. For a good offense this was not a good night. Some of this may have just been a bad night, but a lot of credit deserves to go to the Vikings (something the announcers didn’t credit enough). Their defense does not let up and tires out opponents for 40 minutes. Of course PFW missed wide-open threes. They were exhausted from the CSU defense.
  3. 43-31. That’s the rebounding battle won by CSU. They controlled the ball the entire game and didn’t allow themselves to be out-hustled on any play.
  4. CSU went 8-19 from three. PFW shot 13 more threes and made three less. The Vikings are great at moving the ball and making sure every shot is the best shot (three, layup, etc.). This balance shows their well-equipped offense. Anyone can score in multiple ways.
  5. 13 in a row. It doesn’t matter if the Vikings were to play high school teams, that’s impressive. Doing it in the midst of all these conference games is absurd. There’s not a lot more to say.

Next up for the Vikings:

CSU (17-6, 11-1 HL) heads to Northern Kentucky (10-13, 5-7 HL) to take on the Norse on Wednesday at 7 PM EDT.

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