FAIRBORN, Ohio – Charlie Lee scored 25 points and Anton Grady had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds as Cleveland State won for the sixth straight game – and the fifth straight time on the road – with a 72-68 victory at Wright State on Saturday.
CSU improved to 17-9 overall and 8-3 in the league, while WSU fell to 14-13 overall and 6-6 in the league.
The Vikings improved to 8-7 on the road this year, the most wins by a league team and have won 11 of their past 14 games.
Lee, who was coming off a career-high 31 point effort at Oakland on Saturday, hit 4-of-5 from three-point and all seven of his free throws. Grady posted his fifth double-double this season and ninth of his career, while Bryn Forbes scored 10 points and Jon Harris added nine points and seven rebounds.
Jerran Young led the Raiders with 15 points.
The Vikings trailed 67-65 with 23 seconds left and after a timeout, Lee was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws to put CSU up, 68-67 with 16 seconds left. Lee has hit all 37 of his free throws this year with under five minutes to play.
WSU missed a shot and the ball was knocked out of bounds by the Raiders. Forbes was fouled on the inbounds pass and sank both free throws to put the Vikings ahead, 70-67 with six seconds to play.
The Raiders got the ball over halfcourt and called timeout. Sebastian Douglas immediately fouled Chrishawn Hopkins on the inbound and after Hopkins made the first, he missed the second intentionally and Grady grabbed the rebound with 0.5 seconds left.
Grady knocked down both free throws after he was fouled, sealing the game.
CSU hit all 15 of its free throws in the second half.
The Vikings hit six of their first seven shots to storm out to a 16-3 lead just six minutes in on back-to-back three-pointers from Lee. However, the Raiders used three three-pointers to pull within four points (18-14) at the 11:30 mark before Jon Harris had an offensive rebound put back to give the Vikings a 20-14 advantage.
A Forbes three-pointer with 5:06 to play in the half pushed CSU's lead to nine points (29-20), but the Raiders scored the final 11 points of the first half to take a 31-29 lead into the locker room.
It was the first time since Jan. 19 against Wright State that the Vikings trailed at the half, a span of six games.
The Vikings opened up a nine-point lead (47-38) with 10:56 to play, but a 17-5 Raider run allowed WSU to take a 55-52 lead with six minutes to play, setting up the frantic finish that featured seven lead changes and two ties.
CSU shot better than 50-percent from the field for the 14th time this year, hitting 24-of-45 (.533) and held a 31-22 advantage on the boards.
CSU returns to action on Thursday (Feb. 13) when the Vikings return home for the first time in almost three weeks, hosting UIC at 7:30 p.m. It will be a doubleheader with the CSU women hosting Valparaiso at 5:30 p.m.
