The Cleveland State Men's Basketball team earned its second straight win, defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff 67-58 in front of a crowd of 2,073 at the Wolstein Center in the first game of the Turkey Slam – Cleveland State Regional. The Vikings(2-3) used a balanced attack offensively to run away from the Golden Lions(1-5).
Cleveland State got production from almost its entire rotation, as nine of the 10 Vikings who played in the game scored. CSU held a decisive advantage in bench scoring, winning by a 28-5 margin. Jayson Woodrich led the charge, scoring 12 points in 22 minutes. He shot 50% from three point range.
Ramar Pryor added 7 points, and JaMir Price contributed 6, both of which are season highs.
Among the starters, Tristan Enaruna finished a point shy of a third double-double, tallying nine points and 11 rebounds. Deante Johnson also had nine, and Tae Williams and Deshon Parker finished with eight apiece.
The Vikings withstood an early surge from UAPB, who started the game on an 8-0 run. Cleveland State countered with a run of its own. Back-to-back triples from Woodrich capped a 12-0 run that put the Vikings in front 16-12 with a little over nine minutes left in the first half.
As the first half rolled on, Cleveland State opened it up with a late surge to push the lead to double digits. Another set of back-to-back threes, this time from Price and Drew Lowder pushed the lead to 13 points. Cleveland State led 35-24 going into the halftime locker room.
The second half started with more of the same, with a mini 6-0 spurt from CSU in the early going, giving CSU its largest lead of the game at 19 points. It was 43-24 Cleveland State at the 17:17 mark.
Enaruna then brought the Wolstein Center crowd to life with a little over 12 minutes left, as he threw down a two-handed putback dunk to keep the lead at 15 points.
Down the stretch, the Vikings remained comfortably in front, due in large part to a strong shooting night from the free throw line. For the game, Cleveland State shot 81% from the charity stripe, including 12 for 16 in the second half.
The Turkey Slam – Cleveland State regional continues next week as the Vikings play host to Chicago State. The game will take place at 1:00 on Wednesday, November 23rd.
