VALPARAISO, Ind – Cleveland State dropped its first Horizon League game of the season, falling 58-56 at Valparaiso on Saturday night at the Athletics & Recreation Center.
CSU fell to 9-9 overall and 3-1 in the league, while Valpo moved to 16-3 overall and 3-1 in the league.
Anton Grady led the Vikings with 19 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Charlie Lee tallied 14 points, a career-best eight rebounds and six assists. Andre Yates added eight points and four steals.
Alec Peters led all scorers with 24 points for the Crusaders.
"This was a hard fought college basketball game," head coach Gary Waters said. "Both teams played hard and either team could have won. I thought we hurt ourselves tonight. We didn't execute on offense and we missed nine free throws and too many down the stretch. When we took the lead, we should have closed out the game. But give them credit for coming back."
Valparaiso opened up its largest lead of the first half (21-14) on a Peters three-pointer with 5:30 to go in the half. CSU would close the half on an 11-5 run, slicing Valpo's lead to one point (26-25) at the intermission.
Six points in the first 51 seconds of the second half allowed the Crusaders to push the lead back to seven points (32-25) and force a CSU timeout. Valparaiso maintained the lead until a Yates three-pointer on the left wing tied the game at 47-47 with 6:30 to play and CSU took its first lead since early in the contest on its next possession on a Grady dunk.
Lee keyed the comeback, scoring nine straight points for CSU at one point.
It was back and forth over the final six minutes with five lead changes. A Grady free throw and basket gave CSU a 54-51 lead with 2:27 to play, but Peters was fouled on a three-point attempt and sank all three free throws to knot the contest at 54 all with just over two minutes left.
A CSU miss was followed by a Vashil Fernandez basket as the Crusaders regained the lead with 1:42 to play. A Yates free throw sliced the CSU deficit to one with just over a minute left and neither team would score until Valpo's Tevonn Walker got behind the CSU press and scored on a breakaway layup to put the Crusaders up three. He missed the ensuing free throw after getting fouled, giving the Vikings one last chance.
The Vikings worked the ball to Trey Lewis who was fouled on a three-point attempt from 30 feet out. After making the first free throw, Lewis missed the second. He intentionally missed the third, but a lane violation gave Valpo the ball. A CSU foul with 1.7 seconds left sent the Crusaders to the line where E. Victor Nickerson missed the front end of a one-and-one as the clock ran out.
CSU shot just 18-of-50 (.360) from the field, but forced 19 Valparaiso turnovers. The Crusaders shot .488 (20-41) from the floor and held a 31-29 advantage on the boards.
The Vikings are back on the road on Wednesday (Jan. 14) when CSU plays at Wright State at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and Time Warner Sports Channel, as well as on AM 1420 WHK.
