As CSU traveled to the Ervin J. Nutter Center to face the best team in the Horizon League, no one thought they would come away with a close loss, let alone a victory. With two of their starters still out, the Vikings (7-14, 2-7 HL before the game) pulled off an incredible feat against one of their in-state rivals.
Josiah Harris missed yet another game for CSU and was joined by teammate Preist Ryan, who was injured in the victory against Youngstown State University.
Jaidon Lipscomb, Tre Beard, and Dayan Nessah all took their normal spots in the lineup as Holden Pierre-Louis continued to fill in for Harris. Foster Wonders made his return to the starting lineup for Ryan and the stage was set to face Wright State University (12-8, 7-1 HL).
Pierre-Louis immediately made his presence inside known with a block but the Vikings were all over the place on offense with two turnovers on their first two possessions.
WSU took an early 2-0 lead before Nessah got the Vikings started with a layup off a beautiful pass by Pierre-Louis. An underrated rebounder, Lipscomb grabbed one and dished a pass to Beard for a three that put CSU on top for the first time.
With a short bench, head coach Rob Summers brought in Ivan Spirov and Chevalier Emery right after the first media timeout. The timeout was surrounded by a 6-0 run by the Raiders as they began to pull away.
A three by WSU shortly after rocketed the score to 13-7 and Michael Cooper hit a jumper to make it an eight point game only six minutes into the contest.
The Vikings could have packed it up here and gone home, but instead, Pierre-Louis dished another nice pass, this one to David Giddens, for another layup. Emery added on a great drive to close the gap to four.
Next, Pierre-Louis showed his rebounding and scoring prowess to go with his passing by cleaning up an errant shot and throwing it right back in. Seconds later, Lipscomb grabbed a steal and Giddens splash home a three to make it a one point game.
WSU took a little momentum back but Lipscomb buried his own three to keep the deficit at two. A technical foul on Lipscomb after he thought he was fouled on a shot gave the Raiders two free throws but they only connected on one.
Pierre Louis threw a another nice pass to Beard who threw it immediately to Lipscomb for a three to tie it at 26 and it started to look as though the Vikings actually had a chance. WSU hit a three directly after to go back up by three but Nessah decided it was time to take over.
He grabbed a rebound off an Emery shot and laid it right in to cut it back down to one point plus he sank two free throws a moment later to go up by one, 30-29.
Wonders got in on the fun with a bucket and incredibly, the Vikings were up by three with two minutes to go in the first half. Nessah deposited another beautiful basket and Emery and Beard both added threes to make it 40-33 Vikings at halftime.
Pierre-Louis started the second half with two more great passes for baskets to throw the Vikings up by ten, 47-37.
It was then time for the patented “Vikings scoring drought.” Turnovers and fouls and suddenly Michael Cooper had tied it at 47 with a layup.
Cooper added a three-point play to go up by three as the WSU offense showed why they are in first place.
Emery finally made a basket with 10:29 to play but by then, the Raiders had been on an 18-0 run and had total control…or so it seemed.
Beard knocked down another three and Lipscomb connected on three free throws and the Vikings were back in it.
Wonders grabbed a steal and hit two free throws after being fouled going for the layup. It again was a one-point game.
A traditional three-point play by Nessah tied it at 65 with just under six minutes to go and Emery and Lipscomb threes created a five-point lead for the Vikings.
Not to be easily defeated, WSU had one more push with a basket right out of a timeout before they then stole the ball for another basket to cut the deficit back to one, 73-72
Both teams traded free throws (with Pierre-Louis fouling out) and WSU capitalized with a three-point play to take back the lead, 79-77.
Nessah again drove beautifully with 1:01 left to put the Vikings back on top and then with 50 seconds to go, he blocked TJ Burtch to essentially put the game away.
A tough rebound by Kamari Jones plus a bunch of free throws produced the final score, 85-79 Vikings.
Key Takeaways:
- Nessah finished with 31 points, ten rebounds and five assists. He also added two steals and two blocks while only turning the ball over once. With two of their big guys out, Nessah played like a superstar again.
- The Vikings went 20-for-22 at the line. In such a close game against a good opponent, every one of these shots mattered. On the other side, WSU only went 12-for-18.
- Beard finished with 18 points and grabbed six boards. Between him and Lipscomb, they were 8-for-13 from behind the arch. That’s a recipe for a win.
- CSU had 16 assists on 27 made baskets. Pierre-Louis had four assists. With the way Nessah, Emery and others can slash to the rim, having a big guy throw great passes is a huge plus.
- The zone defense the Vikings are running is frustrating teams when they play quick enough. If they can continue to play like this on that side of the ball (and switching to man-to-man occasionally), this zone will be a different look for a lot of teams and is clearly working.
Cleveland State (7-14, 3-7 HL) now has over a week off now before heading northwest for the Wisconsin trip against Green Bay and Milwaukee next weekend.
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