Cleveland State may not have made the NCAA Tournament or the NIT, but for the third season in the row they flew down to Daytona for the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
Building on the last two seasons in the CBI, they finished as the runner-up in the tournament this season. After a bye in the first round, they won two good games before falling short in the finale against Illinois State.
By winning two games in the CBI, head coach Daniyal Robinson won his 64th and 65th games. These wins give Robinson the record for the most wins in the first three seasons for a CSU head coach. He surpassed Kevin Mackey (of 1986 Sweet 16 fame).
These games can each be broken down into who was the best player for CSU each game. Tahj Staveskie, Je’Shawn Stevenson, and Tevin Smith are those three players.
The Staveskie Game:
The Vikings started off their CBI run with an excellent win against Queens. Staveskie was the story of the day as he went crazy for 29 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the field.
Staveskie was four for seven from deep and five for five at the line. He added four assists and a pair of rebounds as well.
Lost a bit in the shuffle due to Staveskie’s game, Dylan Arnett put up 20 points and six boards. The two of them combined for 49 of the 88 points for the Vikings as they won going away by 15.
After jumping out to a 9-0 and then 13-2 lead, the Vikings never were in any real trouble. At half they were up by 17 and the final 20 minutes just seemed like an unnecessary formality.
CSU led by 23 at one point and most of this was due to their 52 points scored in the paint. Queens stayed (or better “didn’t fall behind by even more”) in the game because they shot 34 free throws (23 makes), but this wasn’t a very competitive game.
Staveskie showed how important he is to the CSU offense and put on a show. A 14-6 run at the end by Queens couldn’t really close the gap at all and the Vikings moved on to face Florida Gulf Coast University.
The Stevenson Game:
Next up for the Vikings was FGCU but this wasn’t Dunk City from back in the day. Either way, this game would prove to be a much taller task for the Vikings compared to Queens.
Arnett started the scoring with a long bank shot but the Vikings found themselves down for the first time in the tournament 4-2. Shortly after, an Abidde three put the Vikings back on top 7-4 and it looked like CSU might run away with the game again.
A Reece Robinson three put the Vikings up 18-14 but a 4-0 run by FGCU tied the game again. Between an unfathomable amount of free throws plus a missed 10-second violation (by both the referees and the announcers), the game went back-and-forth for the rest of the half.
An Abidde three as the half ended put the Vikings up 36-29. At the half, Abidde had six points and five boards and no fouls (a unique game for him). Staveskie was playing well again with ten points. The Vikings also had five blocks (one by five separate guys).
FGCU came out looking to win as they took the lead briefly in the second half before the score was tied at 41 at the first media timeout.
Stevenson converted on a pair of three-point plays in the second half to start his (and the Vikings’) surge.
Another beautiful play for the Vikings was a Euro step by Smith for two. A Franklin three put the Vikings up three but this game was too crazy and a 7-0 run put FGCU right back on top.
Stevenson hit a three to tie the game again before Smith and Staveskie closed out the game with a slew of buckets.
FGCU split a pair of free throws and committed an offensive foul in the waning seconds of the game as the Vikings escaped with a 72-65 win.
Stevenson finished with 17 points including 8-8 at the line. Staveskie added 16 points. Every time the Vikings needed a basket, Stevenson provided the score. The freshman helped lead the Vikings to their final game of the season against Illinois State for the CBI Championship.
The Smith Game:
The Redbirds and the Vikings both had very similar paths to the championship game and for the first 15 minutes it looked like the game was going to come down to a possession or two.
The score went back-and-forth for about eight minutes until CSU grabbed a four-point lead. This slight lead was followed by the Redbirds grabbing a six then eight then nine-point lead to end the half.
CSU could not consistently get stops and the Redbirds consistently shot well and got wide-open cuts to the basket. There were multiple times that Illinois State made a short bucket with no Vikings within five feet of the basket.
CSU was only able to shoot 48% from the field in the half as Illinois State shot a blistering 62.5%. The Redbirds also hit six threes to the Vikings’ two.
The second half was more of the same as the Vikings were unable to stop an offensive onslaught by the Redbirds (specifically Caden Boser who went 7-7 for 20 points and was 4-4 from deep).
Numerous times the Vikings got within a few points but the Redbirds hit every important three and just enough foul shots to close it out.
Illinois State hit another five threes in the second half (CSU hit 3 of the 14 they took) and closed it out with consistent play up and down the roster.
The Redbirds had five players finish in double figures…but so did the Vikings. Smith was the high scorer with 16 and he finished some great baskets to almost will the Vikings back into the game.
In the end, Smith and the Vikes couldn’t get close enough and lost by 11 (79-68) and finished in second in the tournament.
The Vikings ended the season at 23-13. In February and March, they went 6-7 after their winning streak.
