Indianapolis, IN-The Cleveland State Men's Basketball team got contributions from up and down the rotation in a dominant performance at IUPUI on Saturday. Cleveland State's defense was stout the entire way, keeping the Jaguar offense in neutral as the Vikings cruised to an 89-54 win.
The Vikings improved to 10-8 and 5-2 in the Horizon League. IUPUI fell to 3-16 and 0-8 in the league.
Cleveland State opened the game on a 10-0 run and never looked back. The Vikings led the entire way and started the second half by scoring 14 straight to blow the game open.
CSU made a season-high 34 field goals and finished at 50-percent from the floor and 55 percent from three. The Vikings also finished a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line, which is also a season best.
Tristan Enaruna led the way with 18 points, and for the second straight game the majority of his production came in the second half. Enaruna scored 14 points on 4-6 shooting after halftime.
Tae Williams finished with 16 points on 8-9 from the floor. Williams also added three rebounds, three steals and four assists.
Jayson Woodrich added 11 points, including connecting on three of his five three point tries. Drew Lowder finished with 10 points. This is the sixth time in the last seven games Lowder has finished in double figures.
The Vikings started fast, and opened up the 10-0 lead on an Enaruna dunk at the 17:45 mark. He followed it up with a fast break layup a few minutes later to push the lead to 14, it was 16-2 Cleveland State at the 14:49 mark.
The Jaguars fought back and briefly cut the Viking lead down to four, but Cleveland State responded by going on a 9-0 run to close the first half. Cleveland State led 36-23 at the break.
The Vikings continued the momentum coming out of the halftime locker room, with a 14-0 run over the first four minutes of the second half to open up a 50-23 advantage.
The lead hovered in the twenties and then ballooned to 30 with a little over four minutes to go when Jason Drake hit a three-pointer. It was 77-47 Vikings at the 4:12 mark.
Cleveland State hit eight of their ten three-pointers in the second half, and all but two of the 13 Vikings who played in the game scored.
The Viking defense forced IUPUI into 19 turnovers, and held the Jaguars to just 4-22 from three in the game.
Cleveland State will remain on the road, as the Vikings will stay in the state of Indiana for a matchup with Purdue Fort Wayne on Monday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
