Indianapolis, IN-The Cleveland State men's basketball team picked up its fourth consecutive victory and its ninth in a row in the series with IUPUI, downing the Jaguars 86-77 on Saturday in Indianapolis. Cleveland State improves to 10-5 on the season and 3-1 in the Horizon League. IUPUI is 5-10 and 1-3.
The Vikings led for over 34 of the game's 40 minutes, but the game was much closer down the stretch than the final score indicated. IUPUI mounted a late charge in the second half, but the Vikings held off the comeback attempt and made several key plays in the final minutes to emerge victorious.
Four Vikings finished in double figures, led by Jayson Woodrich who led all scorers with a career-high 23 points. Woodrich has scored in double figures in three straight games and connected on 50 percent from the floor, and 4-of-9 three-point attempts. He also led the team with four assists on the afternoon. Woodrich was perfect from the free throw line making all three of his attempts.
Tristan Enaruna had another strong performance, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Enaruna was also perfect from the charity stripe finishing 3-of-3. He tallied nine points in the second half, including multiple key baskets to keep the Vikings out in front late in the contest.
Tevin Smith and Chase Robinson each recorded double figure scoring outputs off the bench for the Vikings. Smith tallied 11 points on 4-of-6 from the floor and Robinson finished with 10 on 3-of-5 shooting.
Cleveland State scored the first six points of the game to seize an early lead. An Enaruna fast break layup put the Vikings up 6-0 just over a minute into the game and forced IUPUI head coach Matt Crenshaw into an early timeout.
The Jaguars fought back over the next four minutes to tie it at 13. The Vikings quickly took the lead back but struggled to create separation throughout the middle of the first half. Back-to-back buckets from Ramar Pryor with under six minutes remaining in the half gave the Vikings an eight-point lead, it was 36-28 with 5:25 remaining. IUPUI slowly chipped away, and a late basket on the final possession of the half trimmed the Viking lead to three at the halftime break. CSU led 44-41.
In the second half, the Vikings caught fire, led by Woodrich. He poured in 16 points in the first eight minutes of the second half to help the Vikings to a double-digit lead for the first time in the game. He capped his scoring barrage with an and-one finish off an offensive rebound which put the Vikings up 12, 64-52, with 12:58 remaining in the game. This marked the largest lead of the game for Cleveland State.
The Jaguars clawed back and eventually fought all the way back to tie the score. A three-point jumper at the 7:08 mark made it 69-69.
IUPUI briefly took the lead twice down the stretch, before an Enaruna dunk at the 3:41 mark tied the score at 73 headed into the final media timeout.
Enaruna converted a three-point play coming out of the media break and followed with another bucket with 1:05 remaining that kept the Cleveland State lead at three. The Vikings led 80-77.
IUPUI had multiple looks to tie the score as the clock wound down, but the Vikings were able to record defensive stops and convert free throws at the other end to secure the victory.
Cleveland State finished at 53 percent from the field, the highest percentage against a league opponent this season. The Vikings also finished 15-of-18 at the free throw line.
Cleveland State remains on the road, next traveling to Wright State for a game that is set to air nationally on ESPN2 on Thursday night (7:00 p.m.). The Vikings return to the Wolstein Center next weekend for a matchup of last year's Horizon League Tournament Championhip Game against Northern Kentucky. Fans can "Ring in the New Year" with the Vikings by purchasing two lower-level tickets for $20.24 online prior to the game.
