Cleveland, OH-It was tough sledding on Wednesday night for the Cleveland State men's basketball team as the Vikings fell to Green Bay 69-61 at the Wolstein Center. Cleveland State is 10-9 in the Horizon League and sits in a tie for seventh place in the league standings with one regular season game remaining.
Tristan Enaruna and Tae Williams carried the Vikings offensively for the majority of the game. Enaruna finished with 24 points, his tenth straight game with 20 or more, and added six rebounds. Williams finished with 17 points and five boards on 7-of-10 from the field.
The Vikings struggled from the field for most of the night finishing at 38 percent from the floor and just 2-of-20 from three-point range.
Cleveland State got off to a good start scoring six of the game's first eight points to open up a 6-2 lead less than three minutes into the game.
The lead was short lived, and after Green Bay worked back to a tie at 15-15 with 11:22 to go in the opening half, the Phoenix seized control and held the lead for the rest of the first half. Green Bay led 33-26 at the break.
Green Bay stretched its lead to as much as 15 points in the middle of the second half. The Vikings mounted a late charge and trimmed the deficit to four with 1:54 left to play. Green Bay responded with points on back-to-back possessions to push the lead back to eight with 1:20 remaining.
Cleveland State applied pressure late but could not draw within one possession as the clock wound down. Green Bay dealt Cleveland State just its third loss on its home floor this season.
The Vikings return to the Wolstein Center court on Saturday to host IUPUI for Senior Night and the regular season finale. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. and the game is part of a doubleheader with the Cleveland State women's basketball team who will face Northern Kentucky at 2:00 p.m.