CLEVELAND, Ohio – Trey Lewis scored a career-high 23 points and Cleveland State shot 63-percent from the field to claim a 78-55 victory over Ball State on Saturday night in the Wolstein Center.
Lewis, who was making his second straight start with Charlie Lee sidelined with a knee injury, made 7-of-10 from the field, including both of his three-pointers, to break his old career-high effort of 19 points done during his freshman season at Penn State. He added five rebounds and four assists.
CSU, which is now 3-0 at home this year, improved to 4-3 this season and defeated the Cardinals for the second straight season. BSU fell to 2-4 this year.
Bryn Forbes added 15 points, while Jon Harris chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench. Anton Grady finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
The Vikings shot 62-percent (13-21) from the field in the opening half and were even better in the second half, hitting 14-of-22 (.636) from the floor.
The 63-percent effort was CSU's best shooting night since the Vikings were 25-of-37 (.676) in a win at Loyola on Feb. 3, 2012.
The Vikings scored the first eight points of the game and opened up a 14 point lead (23-9) with 8:41 to go in the first half on a Lewis free throw. CSU's defense was stingy over the first 12 minutes, holding Ball State to a 3-of-13 effort.
However, the Cardinals slowly trimmed the CSU lead, taking it under double figures on a three-point play by Chris Bond that made it 28-19 with just over three minutes to go. Forbes answered on the other end with a three-pointer from the top of the key to extend the lead back to 12 points (31-19), but a 7-2 spurt by the Cardinals brought them back within seven (33-26) with 1:51 left in the half.
Forbes responded with his third three-pointer of the half to push the lead back to 10 points (38-28), but the Cardinals ended the half with a mini 4-1 run to slice the deficit to seven (39-32) at the break.
Ball State cut the CSU lead to four points on two occasions early in the second half, but an 8-2 CSU run, capped by a Harris dunk, extended the Viking lead back to 10 points (49-39) with 13:19 left. The Cardinals responded with a 6-2 run, but Sebastian Douglas hit a pair of free throws and followed with a layup in transition after a Marlin Mason blocked shot as CSU's lead swelled back to double digits (55-45) midway through the second half.
The Cardinals would not threaten the rest of the night.
CSU hit 7-of-11 (.636) from three point, including a 3-of-4 effort from Forbes, and held a 32-25 advantage on the boards.
CSU returns to action on Wednesday (Dec. 4) when the Vikings travel to Drexel for a 7:00 p.m. contest as a BracketBuster return game.
GAME NOTES
- Cleveland State improved to 3-0 at home this season.
- Trey Lewis scored a career-high 23 points, breaking his old career-high of 19 points set during his freshman season at Penn State in 2011-12.
- The Vikings shot a season-best .628 (27-43) from the field. It was CSU's best shooting night since going 25-of-37 (.676) in a win at Loyola on Feb. 3, 2012.
- Bryn Forbes scored all 15 of his points in the first half.
- Charlie Lee missed his second straight game with a knee injury he suffered last Saturday against Robert Morris.
- CSU scored 23 points off 14 Ball State turnovers.
- The Vikings have scored at least 70 points in five of their seven games this year and are averaging 76.1 points per game.
