GENT, Belgium – Bryn Forbes scored 24 points, his second straight game with 20 points in Europe, and Charlie Lee added 16 points and six assists as Cleveland State defeated Gent on Sunday night in the second of five games in Europe.
Forbes, who scored 28 points in Meppel, The Netherlands, on Friday night, hit 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point. Lee was 7-of-9 from the field. Anton Grady, returning from an injury that cut short his sophomore season, had a strong performance with 14 points and eight rebounds, while newcomer Trey Lewis netted 12 points, four rebounds and three steals.
The Vikings started a different lineup that the one from Friday night with Lewis and Forbes in the backcourt and Jon Harris, Grady and Ismaila Dauda in the frontcourt.
CSU, which traveled the three hours from Amsterdam to Belgium today, found themselves behind 13-4 early, but a Sebastian Douglas steal and layup cut the deficit to 16-14 with 1:30 to play in the first quarter. It stayed that way at the end of the stanza.
A Lee floater in the lane tied the contest at 22-22 midway through the second quarter and that's when Forbes took over, scoring 11 points in just over a minute, including three three-pointers, to make it 35-27 in favor of CSU.
The Vikings led at the half, 42-34, behind 15 points from Forbes.
A lob from Lee to Grady and Grady's free throw to complete the three-point play made it 53-38 with 7:30 to play in the third quarter and CSU would extend its lead to as many as 20 points in the quarter on Lee's jumper with just under five minutes to play.
CSU shot 32-of-63 (.508) from the field and 8-of-17 (.471) from three-point. The Vikings out-rebounded Gent, 39-27, grabbing 10 on the offensive end. CSU also made 11 steals.
The Vikings conclude their two-game tour through Belgium when CSU travels to St. Jan Antwerp for an 8:00 p.m. contest on Monday night.
Release courtesy CSU athletics media relations
Tags: Cleveland State - Men's Basketball
