Vikings Host Wright State on Saturday Afternoon Athletics

Posted: Feb 17, 2017

PDF GAME NOTES
Wright State at Cleveland State

GAME PREVIEW:
   •    Cleveland State concludes a brief two-game homestand when the Vikings host Wright State on Saturday (Feb. 18) at 3:30 pm in the Wolstein Center.
   •   It will be a doubleheader with the CSU women hosting Northern Kentucky at 1:00 pm
   •   The CSU men are 8-19 overall and 4-11 in the Horizon League after falling to Northern Kentucky, 62-60, on Thursday night.
   •   WSU is 18-9 overall (9-5 HL) and won at Youngstown State on Thursday night, 84-81.
   •   Saturday's game will be broadcast on Spectrum Sports and ESPN3 with Al Pawlowski providing the play-by-play and Pat Vuyancih serving as the analyst.
   •   Ed Daugherty will provide the call on AM 1420, WHK.

THE WRIGHT STATE SERIES:
   •   Wright State leads the all-time series with CSU, 34-33, and have won three straight vs. the Vikings.
   •   The Raiders broke a 33-33 tie in the series with a 55-51 win in Fairborn in this year's first meeting on Jan. 5.
   •   CSU is 19-13 all-time vs. Wright State in Cleveland.

GAME 27 REVIEW: NORTHERN KY 62, CSU 60 (2/16/17):
   • CSU rallied from a 12 point second half deficit, but wound up falling to Northern Kentucky, 62-60, on Thursday night.
   •   Rob Edwards led the Vikings with 19 points, six rebounds and two steals.
   •   Kasheem Thomas had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists and Bobby Word scored nine points.

FOR THREE:
   •   CSU has hit a three-pointer in a school-record 593 consecutive games.
   •    The last time CSU failed to make a three-pointer was Feb. 21, 1998, when the Vikings were 0-for-8 in a 60-57 win over Detroit.
   •   The Vikings have hit at least three three-pointers in 142 straight games, dating to Jan. 4, 2013, when CSU was 1-of-18 from three-point at Valparaiso.

WATERS BREAKS RECORD:
   •   The game at UIC on Feb. 11 was the 361st career game at CSU for head coach Gary Waters, the most for a men's basketball coach in program history.
   •   Waters tied Ray Dieringer's mark with his 360th career game at CSU on Feb. 9 at Valparaiso.
   •   Waters is tops in school history with 193 career wins and 362 games coached and is second in CSU history in win percentage (.536).
   •   Waters is 364-304 in his 21 years as a head coach, including 193-169 in 11 years at CSU.
   •   He has won 98 Horizon League games during his career.
   •   He has led 12 of his teams to the post-season in his 20 seasons as a head coach, including three trips to the NCAA's.

EDWARDS PROVING WORTHY OF PRESEASON HONOR:
   •    Rob Edwards was named to the preseason All-Horizon League second team.
   •   He ranks fifth in the Horizon League in scoring (15.9), second in steals (1.4) and 11th in three-pointers (1.9).
   •   Edwards has 12 career 20-point games, including eight times this year.
   •    He scored a career-high 32 points in the win at Oakland (Jan. 16), bettering his old career-high of 28 points at No. 1 ranked Kentucky (Nov. 28) when he set career-highs in field goals made (12) and attempted (21).
   •   Edwards had a career-best seven steals at Milwaukee (Jan. 20), the second most by a Horizon League player in a game this year.
   •   The seven steals were the most by a CSU player since Craig Caldwell made eight at Wright State (2/19/95).
   •   Edwards has amassed 828 career points.
   •   Last year, he averaged 12.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals, earning a spot on the Horizon League All-Freshman team.
   •   He started 30 games last year, the most for a freshman in CSU history, and also logged a CSU freshman record 994 minutes.

KASH DROPS DIMES:
   •   Kasheem Thomas dished out a career-high 10 assists at Youngstown State on Jan. 28.
   •   Thomas became the first CSU player with double-digit assists in a game since Charlie Lee had 10 helpers vs. UIC (2/2/2013).
   •   Thomas ranks eighth in the Horizon League with 3.3 assists per game and is second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9).
   •   He has recorded at least six assists in six games this year, including nine in his first collegiate game vs. Kent State (Nov. 11).
   •   Thomas has started all 27 games this year and became the first CSU freshman to start a season opener since 2003-04 (Walt Waters).
   •   His 27 starts are tied for the fourth most by a freshman in program history.
   •   He is averaging 7.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.

WORD UP:
   •    Bobby Word is sixth in the Horizon League with 2.2 three-pointers per game. His 60 total three's are also fifth most in the League.
   •   He has nine games this year with at least four three-pointers.
   •   Word hit four three-pointers in four straight games from Jan. 20-Feb. 2.
   •   Word scored a career-high 25 points vs. Western Michigan (Dec. 7), hitting 9-of-12 from the field (5-8 3FG).
   •   Word ranks 24th in the League in scoring (11.0) in his first season at CSU after sitting out last year when he transferred from Oral Roberts.

WRIGHT JUST MISSES DOUBLE DOUBLE:
   •   Anthony Wright just missed his first career double-double on Jan. 28 at YSU, finishing with 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
   •   He followed that up with 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals vs. Detroit Mercy (Feb. 2), hitting 5-of-6 from the field.
   •   Wright scored a career-high 14 points with seven rebounds at Belmont (Dec. 22).

FLANNIGAN AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS:
   •    Since missing the first four games due to a medical issue, Demonte Flannigan has come back to provide a strong post presence.
   •   Flannigan is averaging 11.0 points, 24th best in the League and a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game (14th in HL), while shooting .468 from the field (13th in HL).
   •   He has six career 20-point games and six career double-doubles, including 17-point, 10 rebound effort at Wright State (Jan. 5) this year.
   •   He grabbed a CSU season-high 13 rebounds in the Dec. 29 setback to Green Bay, his sixth career double-digit rebound game.

VIKINGS HIT 90:
   •   CSU's 90-73 win over Detroit Mercy (Feb. 2) was the first time the Vikings scored 90 points since a 92-85 win at Oakland (2/2/14).
   •   The Vikings used a 57 point second half vs. the Titans to hit the 90 point mark.
   •   CSU shot 19-of-31 (.613) from the field in the second half and hit eight straight shots at one point to key a 19-0 run, which was part of a 29-2 spurt.

QUICK HITTERS:
   •   Derek Sloan set career highs in points (10) and rebounds (7) vs. Canisius (Nov. 15). A former walk-on, he has started 21 games this year.
   •   Gavin Peppers has not played this season after injuring his foot the day before CSU's exhibition game (Nov. 6).
   •   Anthony Wright tallied a career high 14 points with seven rebounds at Belmont (12/23), hitting 5-of-7 from field and both three-point attempts.
   •   Jibri Blount tied his career-high with 11 rebounds vs. UT-Martin (Nov. 18).
   •   Blount is the son of former Pittsburgh Steeler great and NFL Hall of Famer, Mel Blount.
   •   Kasheem Thomas tied his career-high with 16 points at Oakland (Jan. 16), a total he also had at Duquesne (Nov. 27).
   •   Nelson Maxwell tied his career-high with eight points (3-6 FG), adding three rebounds, one steal and one assist vs. Valparaiso (1/14).
   •   Evan Clayborne is shooting 14-of-22 (.636) from the floor this year.
   •   Jamarcus Hairston scored 13 points (3-6 3FG) vs. Kent State (Nov. 12) in his CSU debut, hitting a three-pointer with 2.6 seconds left to send game into overtime.
   •   CSU's game at Kentucky on Nov. 23 marked the second time in program history that the Vikings played the No. 1 team in the country (Cincinnati, 1999).

UP NEXT:
   •   CSU travels to Detroit Mercy on Tuesday (Feb. 21) for a 7:00 pm contest.
   •   The Vikings return home to host Youngstown State on Saturday (Feb. 25) at 3:30 pm in the regular season finale.

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Vikings Host Wright State on Saturday Afternoon