Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 5)
Cleveland State 78, Lake Erie 62 (Ex.)
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Bryn Forbes scored 21 points and Jon Harris finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in his CSU debut as the Vikings defeated Lake Erie, 78-62, in an exhibition game on Tuesday night in the Wolstein Center.
Forbes, last year's Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, hit four three-pointers, while Harris hit 5-of-7 from the field added two blocks.
Charlie Lee scored 12 points with four assists, while Marlin Mason finished with seven points and nine rebounds. Trey Lewis dished out six assists and had three steals.
Back-to-back three-pointers from Forbes and Marlin Mason gave the Vikings a 12-6 lead four minutes in, but the Storm pulled within a point (14-13) just two minutes later. Forbes answered with another three-pointer to start a 17-7 CSU run that gave the Vikings their first double-digit lead of the night, 31-20, with 7:32 to play in the half on a Harris layup.
Harris, a transfer from Miami (OH), finished the first half with nine points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocked shots in 12 minutes of work.
CSU's lead would grow to as many as 17 points (38-21) with 3:39 to play, but an 11-2 run by Lake Erie closed the first half and allowed the Storm to pull within eight at 40-32.
The Vikings broke the game open early in the second half, scoring the first 12 points of the half to take a 52-32 lead with 15:43 left. Three straight three-pointers – two from Forbes and one from Lee – opened the scoring, while Marlin Mason added a thunderous right-handed baseline dunk off an Anton Grady pass.
The lead would swell to as many as 21 points as with 8:26 to play when Lewis picked up a loose ball and found Harris for a breakaway dunk.
The Vikings shot .465 (20-43) from the field and hit nine three-pointers. CSU, which held a 39-29 advantage on the glass, went 29-of-38 (.763) at the free throw line.
CSU held Lake Erie to 19-of-55 (.345) shooting from the floor.
