VIDEO: Highlights
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State had 10 players score and forced 21 Western Illinois turnovers in cruising to a 76-54 victory in nonconference action in the Wolstein Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Vikings improved to 4-4 this year, while WIU fell to 2-5.
Trey Lewis led the Vikings with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. Lewis, who scored 20 points for the seventh time in his career and the fourth time in the last five games, hit all four of his three-point attempts.
Anton Grady finished with 14 points and six rebounds, while Andre Yates added 11 points, four assists and four steals. He has multiple steals in seven of the eight games this year.
"I thought we came out with good intensity today and played Cleveland State basketball," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "The intensity and level of defense we showed today is what we need to bring every game. We talked about forcing turnovers and getting easy baskets in transition and I thought we were able to do that today."
The Vikings also received 19 points from the bench, including seven from Kaza Keane and five from Derek Sloan.
"We talked about getting some bench production and they contributed today," Waters said. "Kaza came in and gave us a lift and Derek Sloan played very well."
Leading 14-13 seven minutes in, Lee hit a three-pointer to start a 12-0 run over the next four minutes that was capped by a Derek Sloan three-point play, giving CSU a 27-13 lead as the Vikings took control of the game.
The Vikings led at the half, 44-21, forcing 15 first half Leatherneck turnovers, which CSU turned into 22 points.
The 44 points were the most scored by the Vikings in a first half this year and the second most scored in any half in a game this season.
The Leathernecks hit three early three-pointers to start the second half and get within 17 points twice, the last time coming at 50-33 at the 16:38 mark.
However, back-to-back three's from Keane and Yates capped a 21-10 CSU spurt, giving the Vikings a 28 point advantage (71-43) with just over seven minutes left.
The Vikings shot .481 (25-52) for the game, including 9-of-16 (.563) from three-point. In addition, CSU went 17-of-21 (.810) at the free throw line, four days after taking just four free throws in a setback to Toledo.
WIU finished 21-of-45 (.467) from the field, but committed 21 turnovers that led to 34 CSU points.
Garret Covington paced the Leathernecks with 17 points.
The Vikings return to action on Saturday (Dec. 13) when CSU travels to Bowling Green for a 4:00 p.m. contest. The game will be broadcast live on AM 1220 WHKW and a live audio stream will be available at www.whkwradio.com.
