CLEVELAND, Ohio – Andre Yates and Rob Edwards both scored 17 points – career-highs for each - and Tim Hasbargen added nine second half points off the bench, but Cleveland State fell to Ohio, 76-67, on Saturday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Vikings fell to 2-7 this year, while OU improved to 5-3.
Yates hit 8-of-15 from the field for his 17 points and added four rebounds and four assists. Edwards was 6-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point, and added six rebounds and three assists.
Hasbargen, who played the final 13 minutes of the game, scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds. Jibri Blount finished with eight points and Myles Hamilton added five points and four assists.
Antonio Campbell led three OU players in double figures with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Jordan Dartis hit 5-of-9 from three-point for 15 points and Jaaron Simmons tallied 13 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
"I thought we played another decent first half, but just didn't finish," head coach Gary Waters said. "We let them win those last five minutes of the half and they took the momentum into the locker room. We are going to need to revamp some things to get out of this funk.
"I didn't like that we played their basketball. It wasn't CSU basketball. We need to do a better job on the defensive end and can't continue to let teams shoot 48-percent against us. They really exposed our interior today and we need to figure that out.
CSU opened up its largest lead of the game (18-9) midway through the first half on a jumper from Blount. However, an 8-2 OU run over the next two minutes brought the Bobcats within three (20-17). A three-pointer from Blount, his first one of the season, pushed the lead back to six points (23-17), but Ohio closed the half by outscoring the Vikings, 19-11, to take a 36-34 lead at halftime.
A 12-4 run by OU to open the second half extended the lead to 13 points (51-38) on a Dartis three-pointer just five minutes into the half. The lead would remain double-digits until Hasbargen hit a three-pointer with 10:41 to play to slice the CSU deficit to 55-46. However, a 12-4 run from the Bobcats over the next six minutes allowed OU to open up a 67-50 lead.
The Vikings would rally to cut the lead down to eight points (75-67) on a Yates layup with 28 seconds left, but would get no closer.
CSU returns to action on Wednesday (Dec. 16) when the Vikings travel to former Horizon League member Loyola (Ill.) for an 8:00 pm ET contest.
