Nov. 28, 2012
Contact: Greg Murphy
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MUNCIE, Ind. - Bryn Forbes scored a career-high 18 points, all in the second half, as Cleveland State gutted out a 69-63 win at Ball State on Wednesday night.
CSU, playing after an eight-day layoff, improved to 5-2, while the Cardinals fell to 2-3.
Playing without preseason all-league selection Anton Grady (knee), the Vikings out-rebounded the Cardinals, 41-32, including 17 on the offensive end which they turned into 19 second half points.
Forbes hit 6-of-11 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from three-point. He had a stretch in the second half where he scored 13 of CSU's 15 points to give the Vikings the lead.
Charlie Lee finished with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Devon Long scored 10 points in his first career start, filling in for Grady.
Marlin Mason and Tim Kamczyc grabbed eight rebounds each, while Mason also had five steals.
Ball State stormed out to a quick 18-6 lead less than six minutes into the game, hitting seven of their first 10 shots from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. However, CSU's full court press and varying defenses began to give the Cardinals trouble on the offensive end and the Vikings slowly chipped away at the deficit. The Vikings tied the contest at 20-20 when Long capped a 14-2 run with a layup and took their first lead of the night (28-27) on a Lee three-pointer with2:22 to play in the half.
However, a 7-2 spurt by the Cardinals gave them a 34-30 lead at the break.
BSU started quickly in the second half, pushing the lead to eight points (45-37) with 13:27 left in the game. The lead was still seven points (51-44) at the 11:39 mark before Forbes and the CSU defense took over.
Forbes made a layup to slice the CSU deficit back to five points, beginning a stretch where he scored 15 of the Vikings' 18 points, including back-to-back three pointers and a jumper that capped an 18-2 Viking run to put CSU ahead, 62-53 with just under five minutes to play.
Forbes hit all four of his three-point attempts in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Viking defense gave up just two free throws and would not allow a BSU field goal for more than 12 minutes in pulling away.
The Vikings iced the game down the stretch with free throws, including a 5-for-6 effort by Lee in the final minute.
Both teams hit 20-of-27 from the free throw line.
The Vikings also turned the Cardinals over 19 times, leading to 17 points.
Jesse Berry led Ball State with 28 points.
The Vikings return home to host Toledo on Saturday (Dec. 1) at 2:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
