Season-Best Shooting Leads to Cleveland State Win

#HLMBB Scoreboard (Feb. 7)
Cleveland State 88, Wright State 72

Charlie Lee scored a season-high 27 points and Cleveland State shot a season-best .612 from the field, becoming the first team in the Horizon League to win nine games with an 88-72 victory over Wright State on Saturday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

The Vikings improved to 15-10 overall and 9-2 in the league, one-half game ahead of Valparaiso and Green Bay for first place. The Raiders fell to 11-13 overall (3-7 HL).

Lee hit 7-of-11 from the field and all 12 of his free throws, scoring the second most points in a game in his career. Anton Grady added 22 points and four rebounds, while Trey Lewis scored 15 points and Andre Yates added 10 off the bench.

Marlin Mason finished with six points and eight rebounds, while Kaza Keane scored six points with three assists.

The 88 points were a season high for the Vikings who hit 30-of-49 from the field.

Michael Karena, Reggie Arceneaux and Grant Benzinger all scored 13 points for the Raiders.

After missing its first two shots of the game, CSU hit its next nine to build a 25-13 lead at the 8:40 mark. The Vikings scored 13 straight points at one point during the stretch, breaking a 10-10 tie to build a 23-10 advantage.

However, the Raiders stormed back, using a 10-3 run to pull within six points (26-20) with six minutes to play in the half. But four straight points from Lewis pushed the lead back to 10 points and back-to-back three-pointers from Lee and Yates late in the half extended CSU's lead to 15 points (44-29) with 1:31 to play.

The Raiders scored the final four points of the half to slice CSU's lead to 44-33 at halftime.

WSU made seven of its first nine field goals in the second half, including 3-of-4 from three-point, to pull within six (56-50) with just over 13 minutes to play. But the Vikings went to Grady who made a layup and converted a three-point play to push the lead back to double figures (61-50).

Seven straight points by the Raiders pulled WSU within four at 61-57 with 11:22 left, but they would get no closer as the Vikings regained a double-digit lead (79-68) on a pair of Mason free throws with 4:19 to play, hitting nine of 11 field goals from the field to keep WSU at bay.

The Raiders also shot well, hitting 26-of-48 (.542) from the field, while CSU held a 27-19 edge on the boards.