Vikings Vanish as Panthers Prevail

Cleveland State looked as though they were going to easily get their first conference win of the season for the first 10 minutes of the game, but an inability to consistently score or stop Josh Dixon led to another defeat. 

Home Game Against Milwaukee (5-6, 1-0 Horizon League) on Sunday, December 21st

Still without Josiah Harris, the current regular lineup for the Vikings (4-9, 0-2 HL) was again Jaidon Lipscomb, Tre Beard, Dayan Nessah, Preist Ryan, and Holden Pierre-Louis. The Panthers scored the first four points of the game (Dixon scoring the second basket) but Nessah got the Vikings started with a layup on a pass from Beard. 

Lipscomb blocked Faizon Fields before adding a three (again assisted by Beard) to put the Vikings up by one. Milwaukee missed four straight shots before Fields took back the lead by one but three Beard free throws plus a Ryan three pushed the Vikings up by five.

Within the first four minutes, the Vikings had three blocks and their defense looked better than any section of any game so far this season. They were all quickly rotating and the Panthers could not get good looks in their half-court set-up. 

Dixon broke out for a fast break layup to cut the Vikings lead to three but CSU kept the pressure on. Chevalier Emery subbed in and scored a layup right before a Beard three doubled the lead to six. 

With 13:28 left in the half (and the Vikes up 18-12), Nessah came out of the game with a head injury and would not return. This moment ended up looming large for the rest of the game. 

The Vikings kept their great defense up and David Giddens got in on the offensive party. He hit a jumper, dished an assist to Pierre-Louis, and hit a three all within two minutes. CSU was down now without two of their scoring top options, but they were up 27-12 halfway through the first half.

A large reason the Panthers were unable to get going early was their inability to connect on a three. They were 0-for-12 to start the game but the floodgates opened near the end of the half. Milwaukee scored 12 straight points (including two threes) and suddenly the game was 27-24 with just over five minutes to play in the half.

CSU head coach Rob Summers called a timeout to rally the team and their defense came out swinging again. Pierre-Louis blocked two straight shots and then added a jumper to go back up by five points.

To close out the half, the Panthers connected on three more threes and briefly took the lead. Emery connected on a three of his own in the waning seconds of the half to pull CSU back up by two (37-35). 

The second half started with a bunch of free throws for both teams. Beard next hit a three but 20 seconds later Dixon hit a three of his own. He hit another three two minutes later to pull the game even at 45 and another with just over 15 minutes left in the game.

At this point, the Panthers were up 48-45. The Vikings would never lead or be tied again. CSU did not make a field goal from the 16:41 mark to the 11:43 mark. They tried to stay in the game by making free throws but the Panthers gradually built their lead to seven.

Emery tried to will the Vikings back into the game (connecting on a layup to cut the lead to four) but Milwaukee had an answer every time CSU got close. 

A Panther three combined with a pair of split foul shots by the Vikings and another Panther basket ballooned the deficit to 11 points with 5:37 to go. Beard and Emery both hit threes to pull the Vikings within seven on separate occasions but an offensive foul on Emery with 1:33 (as Beard made another three that was waved off) sealed the deal. 

Emery did hit another three and it was a two possession game but the Panthers had one more answer. Dixon hit a jumper with 28 seconds to go that summed up the entire game as it bounced on the rim multiple times before falling though.

After a foul by the Vikings, the Panthers finished as winners 81-71. Dixon finished with 28 points.

Key Takeaways:

1. The Vikings only committed seven turnovers while they were averaging 15 coming into the game. This low amount limited the chances for the Panthers to run and get easy points (only 11 points off turnovers).
2. On the flip side, Milwaukee only had five turnovers (CSU had seven points off them) and the Vikings had zero steals. The Vikings defense was incredible the first ten minutes but fell back into their old ways down the stretch. Summers pointed to the lack of energy being influenced when he made the bench sit down after instructed to by the referee. “Maybe that one’s on me. I should have maybe not said, ‘Hey, guys, sit down’ and just taken the technical.” He also pointed to just playing faster to allow the offense to open up more. “I think that they did a great job of pressing us to make sure that we couldn’t play fast. Then also, I’ve got to figure out how to utilize my bench[.] We are just down a lot of bodies, so as guys get tired, that’s where the shot clock comes in effect because they just can’t move the ball so fast.”
3. Along with the shift in energy after the bench sitting down, losing Nessah while still missing Harris was a huge issue for the Vikings. Emery (22 points), Beard (14), and Pierre-Louis (12) all stepped up but it’s tough to replace two of your top guys (including one on the fly). Pierre-Louis has taken on extra minutes lately and Summers hopes he can build off this performance. “So if he could build on that and just be a defensive interior presence for us defensively. Play, run a little hard, a little faster, [and] use his voice because he’s a big body”
4. The Vikings only put up 23 threes (32 for the Panthers). They had a better percentage than Milwaukee but Summers noted they need to be taking more for them to win. “I told my guys I want to shoot 40 threes a game.” He continued, “I think that is our strength this year, especially. Is that gonna be our calling card every year? No, but I think [on] this team, you have a lot of guys that can shoot the basketball, and we’re one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country.”
5. CSU got outworked inside yet again without Harris to grab rebounds. Pierre-Louis and Beard both had six boards but Fields finished with 12 and the Panthers had 19 more rebounds than the Vikings. CSU only had six offensive boards and Milwaukee had 18 (which led to 18 second-chance points). Summers pointed to how this affected the entire makeup of the contest. “We just couldn’t rebound the ball today. I think that they just shot the ball at the rim and then utilized their size and athleticism, and we just didn’t have the size today to go out there and compete against that. So that’s something that we’ve got to continue to work on because nobody is coming to save us in the middle of the season.”

Next up for CSU (4-10, 0-3 HL):

The Vikings welcome IU-Indy (4-9, 0-3 HL) next Monday at 7 PM.