CLEVELAND, Ohio – Anton Grady, Charlie Lee and Trey Lewis combined for 60 points and Cleveland State maintained a hold on first place in the Horizon League with a 70-66 win over Detroit on Friday night in the Wolstein Center.
CSU moved to 12-9 overall and 6-1 in the Horizon League. The Vikings will be tied for first place in the league with the winner of tonight's Valparaiso-Green Bay game as both teams entered the game with 5-1 league records.
Detroit fell to 10-11 overall (3-3 HL).
Lewis scored 30 points, his second 30-point game this season, hitting five three-pointers. Grady notched his 14th career double-double and third straight with 15 points and a career-best 14 rebounds, adding four blocked shots, while Lee finished with 15 points and five boards.
Lewis also grabbed eight rebounds.
The Vikings were playing without two starters as Andre Yates missed the game with an ankle injury and Marlin Mason sat out due to illness. It snapped a streak of 103 straight games for Mason, as well as 53 consecutive starts.
Kaza Keane and Vinny Zollo drew starting assignments and provided good minutes. Keane scored just two points, but had four rebounds and four assists, while Zollo grabbed four rebounds in his first career start at CSU.
Kenny Carpenter added four points off the bench, while Derek Sloan produced two rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes.
The Vikings used 16 first half points from Lewis to take a 30-28 lead at the half, despite missing 10 of their 14 free throws in the opening stanza.
Detroit opened the second half on a 15-4 run to take a 43-34 lead at the 14:11 mark, but CSU responded with a 14-4 run that was capped with a Kenny Carpenter runner to bring the Vikings back within a point (48-47).
Five straight points by Detroit extended the Titan lead back to five (52-47), but Lewis scored six straight points and Lee hit a three-pointer from the right wing to give the Vikings a 56-52 lead with just over four minutes to play.
The lead would reach nine points (64-55) with one minute to play on a pair of free throws by Lewis and the Vikings iced the game by hitting their final 10 free throws, six by Lee and four by Lewis.
The Vikings held a 42-36 advantage on the boards, despite playing without Mason, their second leading rebounder. CSU also held Detroit to .373 (22-59) shooting from the field, while hitting .440 (22-50).
CSU returns to action on Monday (Jan. 26) when the Vikings travel to Oakland for a 7:00 p.m. contest. The game will be broadcast live on AM 1420 WHK with Al Pawlowski providing the play-by-play and will also be shown on ESPN3.
