#HLMBB Scoreboard (Dec. 16)
Cleveland State 66, Western Carolina 55
Oakland 90, Illinois State 75
Cleveland State and Oakland each opened the week with victories, winning on their respective home courts against Western Carolina and Illinois State.
Cleveland State 66, Western Carolina 55
Cleveland State returned from a nine-day layoff and snapped a two-game skid with a 66-55 victory over Western Carolina at the Wolstein Center.
CSU improved to 5-5 this year, while the Catamounts fell to 5-7. WCU was playing its fifth game in the state of Ohio this year.
Sebastian Douglas led the Vikings with a career-high tying 16 points, hitting all six of his shots from the field and 4-of-5 at the free throw line. Douglas added three rebounds.
Anton Grady scored 13 points, while Trey Lewis finished with 11 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals. Bryn Forbes was the fourth CSU player in double figures with 11 points and Jon Harris added nine points and six rebounds off the bench.
CSU played one of its best games on the defensive end, tying the season-low for points allowed and holding the Catamounts to .365 (19-52) shooting from the field. The Viking defense also forced an opponent season-high 18 turnovers.
The Vikings led by two points at the half, but WCU opened the first four minutes of the second stanza by scoring 12 of the first 16 points to assume a 42-38 lead.
But that's when the Vikings took over, scoring 11 straight points to take a 49-42 lead with 12:15 to go. CSU held the Catamounts to just two field goals and two free throws over a 13 minute stretch, opening up an 11 point lead, 60-49, with just over three minutes to play.
WCU opened its largest lead of the first half, 22-14, 11 minutes in, but seven straight points by CSU brought the Vikings within 22-21 with six minutes to play in the half.
A Jon Harris three-pointer broke the fifth tie of the first half and gave CSU a 30-27 lead, but Sumler answered with three free throws on the other end to knot the contest for the sixth time in the first half with just over a minute to play.
A Douglas steal and layup with five seconds left gave the Vikings a 32-30 halftime lead.
Oakland 90, Illinois State 75
Travis Bader and Corey Petros each had double-doubles as all five Oakland starters reached double figures to lead the Golden Grizzlies past Illinois State, 90-75, inside the Athletics Center O'rena.
Oakland (3-9) outscored ISU (5-5), 42-16, in the paint.
Bader grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and added 21 points to record his first-ever double-double. Petros tallied 18 points and 12 rebounds to post his Horizon League-best fourth double-double of the season.
Tommie McCune scored 16 points in 15 minutes, while Kahlil Felder and Duke Mondy each scored 12 points for the Grizzlies. Oakland has won seven straight games inside the O'rena.
The Golden Grizzlies found themselves down 12 points early, but responded with a 9-0 run to take a 40-38 lead at halftime. The Grizzlies began the second half on a 12-0 run and led by as many as 19 points in the final 20 minutes.
Oakland outrebounded the Redbirds, 44-29. Its the first time OU has won the battle of the glass against a D-I opponent and are 2-0 this season when doing so. The Golden Grizzlies are holding opponents to 36.6 percent shooting inside the O'rena.
ISU had five players in double figures, led by Daishon Knight and Paris Lee who both tallied 14 points. Tony Wills added 12 off the bench.Tommie McCune scored nine of his 16 points right after halftime as Oakland got hot and broke open a two-point game to beat Illinois State 90-75 at the Athletics Center O'rena.
The Golden Grizzlies were up just 40-38 at halftime when McCune, Petros and Kahlil Felder sparked a 14-2 run and Oakland was never threatened again.
Going 4-of-9 from 3-point range, Bader moved into sole possession of 10th on the NCAA career 3-point field goal list with 405.
