CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State reached 20 wins for the fifth time in the last seven seasons and locked up the No. 2 seed in next week's Horizon League Championship with a 70-69 overtime win over Youngstown State on Tuesday night in the Wolstein Center.
The win moved CSU to 20-10 overall and 11-4 in the Horizon League, while YSU slipped to 15-15 overall and 6-9 in the league.
It is the 10th time in program history that CSU has won 20 games in a season with head coach Gary Waters claiming five of those seasons.
The game featured nine ties and 12 lead changes.
Anton Grady battled through illness to finish with 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a steal. But he made the play of the night in overtime, sealing the victory when he blocked Kendrick Perry's jumper at the buzzer.
Bryn Forbes finished with 15 points, while Charlie Lee and Trey Lewis scored 10 each. Lee hit all four of his free throws, extending his streak of consecutive made free throws to 31, one shy of tying the CSU record held by Damon Stringer.
Forbes hit three three-pointers, breaking the CSU single season record for three's in a season. He has 73, besting the old mark of 71 by Trey Harmon in 2011-12.
Ryan Weber tied the game at 60-60 with 2:54 to play in regulation, but neither team would score again as the game went into overtime. The Penguins had two chances inside of four seconds, but Kamren Belin's short baseline jumper was off the mark and Bobby Hain's tip was too strong.
Lee hit two free throws to give CSU a 70-67 lead with 9.2 seconds left in overtime and after Perry hit two free throws on the other end, CSU's inbounds pass went off Lewis' leg, giving YSU the ball with four seconds to play.
Perry got the ball at the top of the key, but Grady stepped out and blocked the shot at the buzzer.
The Penguins took an early 5-4 lead, but CSU responded with 11 straight points to open up a 15-5 point lead, forcing a YSU timeout with 13 minutes to play. YSU came out of the timeout and went on an 18-6 run, capped by three straight three-pointers, to give the Penguins a 23-21 lead with 5:34 to play.
The Vikings led at halftime, 30-28.
The Vikings will return to action on Saturday (March 1) when CSU concludes the regular season with a 4:00 p.m. EST contest at Valparaiso. The game will be broadcast live on SportsTime Ohio as part of the Horizon League Network Regional TV package.
