CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State men's basketball team officially began preparations for the 2017-18 season with its first practice on Saturday. 

The Vikings are under the direction of first-year head coach Dennis Felton was was named the 15th head coach in program history on March 24. Felton is a veteran on the basketball scene with more than 30 years of experience, including 11 as a head coach. In five seasons at Western Kentucky, he led the Hilltoppers to three NCAA tournaments. Felton also spent six seasons at Georgia, leading the program to the 2008 SEC title and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Felton welcomes back six seniors from last year's squad in Kenny Carpenter, Terrell Hales, Derek Sloan, Bobby Word, Anthony Wright and Jamarcus Hairston. In addition, sophomores Kasheem Thomas and Evan Clayborne are back.

Word is the top returning scorer from last year after he averaged 11.1 points, while Thomas posted 7.7 points and 3.3 assists. The duo started all 31 games with Thomas setting the program record for most starts by a freshman.

Junior Dontel Highsmith joins the program as a graduate transfer from Northern Illinois, while junior David Payne arrives at CSU after spending last year at Malcolm X College. Sophomore Algevon Eichelberger is also in his first year at CSU and will sit out this year to fulfill NCAA requirements after transferring from DePaul.

A talented quartet of freshmen - Tyree Appleby, Shawn Christian, Stefan Kenic and Deven Stover - are all preparing for their first season of college basketball.

To view complete bios on each player, please visit the 2017-18 ROSTER online.

The Vikings open the season on Nov. 11 with a 7:00 pm game at Akron in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.