CHARLESTON, Ill. – Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters became the all-time winningest coach in CSU history with his 150th career win as the Vikings earned an 82-68 victory at Eastern Illinois on Tuesday night at Lantz Arena.
Waters, who tied the mark on Saturday with a victory over Valparaiso, moved past Ray Dieringer, who won 149 games from 1969-1983.
The Vikings reached 80 plus points for the eighth time this year, the most since the 2010-11 squad also did it eight times.
Bryn Forbes paced the Vikings with 25 points, three assists and four steals. He was 4-of-8 from three-point, extending his streak of a three-pointer to 23 straight games, a school record.
Trey Lewis finished with 17 poins, nine rebounds and five assists, while Anton Grady added 10 points and eight rebounds. Devon Long chipped in nine points, while Demonte Flannigan scored six points and Jon Harris tallied eight rebounds and four assists.
It was the 29th all-time meeting between the two schools, but the first since the 1994-95 season when both schools were members of the Mid-Continent Conference.
The Vikings opened the scoring with the first five points of the night, but EIU responded with an 11-2 run to take an 11-7 lead eight minutes in. The Vikings answered back over the next six minutes with a 23-8 spurt that saw CSU open up its largest lead of the half (30-19) on a Forbes three-pointer at the 6:16 mark.
However, it was EIU's turn to answer back, using its second 11-2 run of the half to get within two points (32-30) with just under four minutes left in the half. CSU came right back, using a Lewis three-pointer to start a 7-2 run, highlighted by back-to-back dunks from Demonte Flannigan off feeds from Lewis and Forbes.
But after the teams traded buckets inside of a minute, EIU's Reggie Smith hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to cut CSU's halftime lead to 41-37.
The Vikings scored the first six points of the second half to open up a 10 point lead, but four straight from EIU brought the Panthers back within six (47-41) three minutes into the half. CSU answered with a 12-4 run to open up a 14 point lead (59-45) with 13:07 to play and the lead would reach as many as 18 points midway through the second half on a pair of free throws from Grady.
The Panthers had one more run, cutting their deficit to eight (70-62) with 4:53 left, but a Long jumper and Forbes three-pointer put CSU back up by 13 (75-62), sealing CSU's fifth road win of the year.
The Vikings shot 50-percent (28-56) from the field, the 11th time the Vikings were at 50-percent or better this year. CSU hit 9-of-16 from three-point and was 17-of-18 at the free throw line.
The Vikings held a 34-26 advantage on the glass.
CSU returns to action on Friday (Jan. 31) when the Vikings open the second half of Horizon League play with a 7:00 p.m. contest at Detroit. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
