Detroit, MI-The Cleveland State Men's Basketball team struggled to settle into a rhythm Thursday night, falling to Detroit Mercy 85-67 at the Titans' Calihan Hall.
The Vikings got down early, rallied in the second half, but couldn't get over the hump down the stretch as the Titans pulled away late. The loss dropped Cleveland State to 14-10 overall, and 9-4 in Horizon League play. Detroit Mercy improved to 9-15 and 5-8 in league play.
Cleveland State finished 25-54 from the floor in the game (.463), but struggled at the free throw line, shooting just 50-percent(12-24) from the charity stripe.
Tristan Enaruna led the way for CSU, finishing with 18 points. Enaruna has now scored in double figures in 11 straight games. He finished 7-12 from the field and also added five rebounds, and an assist.
Drew Lowder finished in double figures for the fifth consecutive game, totaling 14 points on 6-10 from the field. Lowder had two of Cleveland State's five three-point makes on the night.
For Detroit Mercy, Antoine Davis, the NCAA's leading scorer, led the way with 35 points.
The Vikings led just once, 6-4 early in the first half, before Detroit Mercy seized control. The Titans led by as many as 11 in the first half, before a late run by CSU closed the gap to five going into the halftime locker room.
Cleveland State continued to chip away early in the second half, and at one point cut the deficit to one with a little over eleven minutes left to play. However the Vikings were unable to break through the rest of the way, as the Titans quickly pushed the lead back to double digits and kept it that way for the duration of the game.
Cleveland State remains on the road for the second game of the two game road swing through the State of Michigan, traveling to Oakland for a Saturday afternoon matchup. Tip-off of that game is slated for 1 p.m.