The schedule for the week for Cleveland State (9-14, 5-7 Horizon League before the week) looked like a split. Somehow the split happened in the most unlikely way. Add in a heating issue, a change of venue and overall insanity, and it was a crazy week for the Vikings.
CSU got the wackiness started even before tip-off on Wednesday as a heating problem in the Wolstein Center moved the game to old Woodling Gymnasium across campus.
With one side of the bleachers out and the other side being used for tables for multiple purposes, the vibes in the gym were…immaculate. The parking situation was horrible as everyone tried to pack into the tiny lot and small gym, but once inside, there was a buzz that does not happen in Wolstein.
The game started like normal with Jaidon Lipscomb, Tre Beard, Dayan Nessah, Preist Ryan and Holden Pierre-Louis taking the floor against the second-best team in the conference — Oakland University (14-10, 10-3 HL). The rest of the game would be anything but normal.
The Golden Grizzlies jumped out to an early lead with two baskets inside, but Beard was fouled on a three and sank all three free throws to pull the Vikings up 5-4. Oakland fought back with a three, but Foster Wonders evened the score at seven with a basket of his own.
A Beard three had the Vikings up 10-7, but a 7-0 run by OU squashed any plans by CSU to pull away early. Brody Robinson added another three for the Golden Grizzlies as the Vikings were unable to connect on any long range shots. Three consecutive misses from deep for the Vikings before a Wonders make showed that no matter their percentage, CSU is going to keep shooting.
A steal and layup by Lipscomb followed up by another Wonders three pulled the Vikings back within one, but Oakland’s skill shined though going into halftime.
The Golden Grizzlies gradually built a ten-point lead in the last five minutes of the half as the Vikings continued to be just off on their threes. Outside of a three by Lipscomb and a three by Beard, they had no answer for Oakland’s consistent scoring and were down 42-32 at half.
After scoring only 32 points in the first half, the Vikings only scored 59 points in the second half. The offensive spurt started with another made three by Lipscomb nine seconds into the half followed by another less than a minute later.
OU countered with a 5-0 run, but three straight threes by the Vikings — Lipscomb, Beard, Beard — closed the deficit to just five points with three-fourths of the half to play.
CSU cooled off a bit around the 12-minute mark of the half and were still down eight, but it was time for their next flurry of threes — Josiah Harris, Kamari Jones and Beard. Only down four points, the Vikings frustrated the Golden Grizzlies and tied the game at 65 with 8:26 to play.
Oakland briefly took the lead 67-65 but it was time for flurry number three (Harris, Lipscomb, Beard). A 15-0 run by the Vikings was accented by a made three by Beard where he was fouled and made the foul shot.
The Golden Grizzlies had gone into hibernation and had run out of time. Nessah threw down a dunk to make it a 16-point lead but the final spread was only 13 points, 91-78.
Key Takeaways:
- The Vikings set a program record with 17 made threes (17-for-40, 42.5%). They went 5-for-20 in the first half and then exploded and went 12-for-20 in the second half.
- The often out-rebounded Vikings were +6 on the glass and grabbed 16 offensive boards. Nessah was the team leader with ten. Head coach Rob Summers also noticed how good Nessah has been on the glass lately. “He’s somebody who can be a matchup problem. He can do a lot of things on the court, not just score the basketball,” he said. “I know he’s a great rebounder. He goes and gets everything with two hands[…] and he dug out some big ones for us today.”
- Nessah also finished with 15 points, but the story of the game was Beard, who finished with 24 points and nine assists while playing 36 minutes.
- Jones hasn’t played a ton, but dealing with sick players and other challenges, Summers put him in for the end of the game and he delivered. He scored eight points in 11 minutes and played great. Summers commended Jones and his assistant coach on how he played. “Michael Hunter, my assistant, he actually came to me before the game and he’s like, ‘coach, I don’t know your rotation today but you got to give Kamari a look.’”
- The Vikings completely lost the inside game (44 to 20 points in the paint), but when you hit 12 more threes than your opponent you’re going to win a lot. In a clash of different styles of play, CSU came out on top this time. “At their place, we didn’t do a great job of making [threes], and so that made us a little lethargic on the offensive end, and we didn’t cut as well,” Summers noted. That last time, Oakland took the game, so will we see a third round of the matchup in the conference tournament?
An extra takeaway was the incredible atmosphere in Woodling Gym. Fans were pounding on the bleachers, the players were pumping up the crowd, and there was a feeling of togetherness that doesn’t exist in Wolstein. “It was a great, great environment. Our guys were very excited to play and give a good product in front of the fans,” Summers mentioned.
The Vikings next took their five-game win streak to Indianapolis to try to beat the last place IU-Indy Jaguars (2-11, 6-18 HL). They started the same five to attempt to keep the good times rolling. It did not work as well this time around.
CSU got on the board first, but a recently healthy Kyler D’Agustino grabbed the lead with a three to start a run by the Jaguars.
The IU-Indy press grabbed two quick fouls, but CSU was again unable to convert on the offensive side. At the first media timeout, the Vikings were completely out of sorts and down 10-2.
The Jaguars scored another seven points out of the timeout and the Vikings were down big: 17-2. Harris finally scored a layup, but IU-Indy continued to score and pull away with tight defense. With under 12 minutes in the half, CSU was down 22-4.
Lipscomb hit the first three for the Vikings and a tough drive by Nessah cut the deficit to 22-9. The Jaguars finally missed some shots and an Chevalier Emery free throw got the Vikings in double figures — after almost 11 minutes).
Jones entered for the Vikings earlier in the game and came out with his typical high energy, grabbing a rebound immediately. Lipscomb started to get his shot going, and slowly but surely the Vikings crawled closer.
To help CSU, IU-Indy could not find the basket for seven minutes and were stuck at 22 points. A 13-0 run by the Vikings got them right back in the game, 22-17 with about five minutes left in the half.
Alas, the Jaguars did not let this run phase them and went on a 5-0 run themselves to double their lead. IU-Indy was in their typical foul trouble as Finley Woodward picked up his third foul late in the first half.
IU-Indy continued to pressure CSU with their full-court defense and the Vikings could not get their offense going. With under two minutes to go, CSU was stuck at 19 points and they went into halftime down 39-24.
The second half was no better for the Vikings as the Jaguars were able to match every basket they scored.
The only real story of the second half for CSU was Nessah’s play. He finished with 24 points and continued to get to the rim at will.
With the deficit above 15 and less than ten minutes to go, Summers went to his bench for Manny Hill. Hill hadn’t played much recently, but the senior gave some much appreciated energy to the team. It wasn’t enough to pull CSU though, and the despite the Jaguars’ best efforts, the Vikings weren’t going to win.
Some consecutive baskets by the Vikings did cut the lead to seven near the end, but time ran out. The Vikings’ win streak ended at five games with an 82-74 loss to the last place team.
Key Takeaways:
- After a record-setting night against Oakland from three, the Vikings went 8-for-35 (22.9%) against IU-Indy. The Jaguars went 10-for-23 (43.5%).
- Even with everything going wrong, Nessah continued to put up big numbers. He finished with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists. Only two other Vikings were in double figures.
- If there’s a silver lining in the game, it’s that CSU put up 50 points in the second half and looked more like themselves. After a 24-point atrocity in the first half, at least they got more comfortable as the game went on, but it was just too late.
- Harris almost finished with a double-double again (he missed it by one rebound). He looks to be getting back into the swing of things after his multiple recent injuries. He’ll be important down the stretch.
- “The System” that the Jaguars run can work. They had five guys in double figures, seven guys with an assist and 8-of-9 players with a rebound. They also forced 15 turnovers for 20 points.
The Vikings (10-15, 6-8 HL) now come back home to face Robert Morris (16-10, 8-7 HL) on Thursday before top-dog Wright State (16-9, 11-3 HL) comes to the Wolstein Center or potentially Woodling Gym on Sunday looking for revenge.
Author’s note: As someone whose CSU athletics’ vote doesn’t count, I’d vote to play at Woodling Gym. It was incredible to be there. Even with 100 fans it gets loud in there, but with a few thousand it gets crazy.
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