CSU's Defensive Effort Leads to Win

Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 15)
Cleveland State 86, Mount Vernon Nazarene 40
UT-Martin 81, UIC 78 (OT)

Cleveland State 86, Mount Vernon Nazarene 40
Trey Lewis scored a career-high 32 points and tied a CSU single game record with nine three-pointers as the Vikings rolled to an 86-40 win over Mount Vernon Nazarene on Monday night in the Wolstein Center.

CSU moved to 5-5 this season, while the Cougars fell to 11-3.

Lewis, whose previous career-high was 29 points against Oakland last seaon, hit 10-of-14 from the field and nine of his 11 three-point attempts. The nine three's tied the CSU mark set by Percell Coles at Duquesne on Nov. 27, 2002.

Lewis added five assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals.

Anton Grady finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Andre Yates added eight points and three steals.

The Vikings pressure defense frustrated the Cougars all night as MVNU had 28 turnovers that CSU turned into 30 points.

CSU wasted little time in building its lead as Grady scored eight quick points to give CSU a 15-2 lead seven minutes in. The Cougars got within nine (17-8) midway through the first half, but a Lee jumper ignited a 10-0 spurt that put the Vikings in from 27-8 with 7:10 to play in the first half.

Lewis took over from there, hitting four straight three-pointers, the final one giving CSU a 41-13 lead with 2:09 left in the first half.

He hit five three-pointers in the first half.

CSU shot .533 (32-60) from the field, while Lewis hit all nine of CSU's three-pointers as the Vikings finished 9-of-117 (.529) from behind the arc.

The Vikings held MVNU to .289 (13-45) shooting from the field.

UT-Martin 81, UIC 78 (OT)
The UIC men's basketball team (3-8) faced a 17-point deficit in the second half and used a 20-4 run to force overtime against UT-Martin (6-2) on Monday night, but the Skyhawks outscored the Flames, 16-13, in the extra frame to claim the 81-78 win.  The Flames were led by junior Paris Burns with 24 points, while senior Marc Brown dropped in a season-high 23.

The Flames clawed their way back into the game after being down 55-38 with 9:38 left to play.  An 11-0 run by UIC pulled them to within four (57-53) of the Skyhawks and a three-pointer by redshirt freshman Lance Whitaker at the 3:20 mark cut UTM's lead down to one, 59-58.

A pair of free throws by fifth-year transfer Jay Harris with 29 seconds on the clock knotted the score at 65-65.  UT-Martin's Marshun Newell had his game-winning shot attempt blocked at the other end of the court by freshman Tai Odiase and Burns picked up the loose ball for the Flames with four seconds remaining. Burns dribbled into UIC territory and launched a 35-footer that bounced on the rim three times before falling to the floor.

The Skyhawks jumped out early in overtime and held a 70-65 edge less than one minute into the period. UTM went ahead by eight points (75-67) with 1:26 left to play and held a two-possession lead until Harris drained a three-ball at the buzzer to produce an 81-78 final.

Harris finished the night with 18 points, six rebounds and two assists. He has now scored in double figures in 11 of his past 12 collegiate games and leads the team in scoring (17.0).

Brown's 23 points gave him six 20-point efforts in his career and the first this season.  The Dallas native totaled season-highs of six rebounds and three steals. Brown also went 6-of-6 from the foul line and improved his league-leading free throw percentage to 93.5 percent (29-of-31).

Burns collected his fourth double-digit game of the season and his second 20-point performance in three games.  The Chicago native also recorded career-bests of 10 field goals and five assists.

Odiase had a solid performance with five points, four rebounds and four blocked shots. He now owns a team-high 21 swats on the season, a total that ranks second in the Horizon League.