CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State University men's basketball team had the lead in the opening minute of the second half but never recovered from a prolonged cold stretch to begin the period as visiting Samford remained unbeaten with a 73-60 win Sunday evening in the Wolstein Center.
Sophomore Stefan Kenic led CSU with 15 points and six rebounds, reaching at least a dozen points for the third straight outing. Junior Jaalam Hill had five points and a team season-high 10 rebounds along with two steals.
CSU had advantages in fast-break points and bench points, the latter of which the Vikings have outpaced their opponent in each game this season. The Vikings also had a lead in second-chance points and grabbed a higher portion of their misses than did the Bulldogs. However, Cleveland State was let down by its shooting Sunday.
"We couldn't make a shot, especially in the second half," head coach Dennis Felton said. "We had a lot of shots right at the rim that we failed to finish, and we had a lot of other really good looks on the perimeter. Every team has those nights. It won't be the last game where we struggle to make shots. When that happens, you have to bear down and make it really really difficult for the other team to score."
Samford opened up a double-digit lead, 15-5, fewer than five minutes in thanks to some hot shooting. The Vikings did cut the margin to five before a 10-1 run gave the Bulldogs a 28-14 advantage with fewer than eight minutes left.
The Vikings responded with their best stretch of the game as they closed the half on a 20-7 run, featuring five points each from junior Kasheem Thomas and Kenic. Redshirt senior Dontel Highsmith's three from the left wing just before the horn, assisted by Thomas, cut Samford's lead to 35-34 at the half.
Highsmith made a pair of freebies 11 seconds into the second half to put CSU ahead for the first time since very early in the game. However, the Vikings then went cold from the field, and the Bulldogs took advantage. Samford went on a 14-0 run to take a 13-point lead, which proved to be the final margin.
The Vikings cut the lead to single digits on a couple of occasions, but Samford responded with points on its next possession both times to help see out the win.
True freshman Dibaji Walker had a season-high 10 points in 11 minutes off the bench. Sophomore Tyree Appleby finished with nine points, two rebounds, three assists and a season-high three steals.
Each team had 22 points off turnovers. Samford's 48% shooting from the field marked the first time in CSU's last 10 games that an opponent shot better than 45% from the floor.
"We've gone through a busy stretch here with a lot of games, so I'm excited to have a few days [without a game] to focus on ourselves," Felton said.
Cleveland State will resume action this Friday, Nov. 23, at Ohio State.
