Nov. 9, 2012
Contact: Greg Murphy
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Charlie Lee led six Cleveland State players in double figures with a career-high 20 points as the Vikings rolled to a 92-49 victory over Grambling in the season opener on Friday night in the Wolstein Center.
Lee, who also added seven assists, made 7-of-10 shots from the floor, including 2-of-3 from three-point.
The win was the 500th in program history at home, moving the Vikings to 500-391 in home games since the program began in 1929-30 as Fenn College.
Anton Grady scored 14 points with nine rebounds, while Tim Kzmczyc had 12 points and six boards. Marlin Mason and Sebastian Douglas added 10 points apiece, while Bryn Forbes chipped in 14 points off the bench.
Devon Long added eight points off the bench.
"We did well in many cases tonight and I really liked our balanced scoring," head coach Gary Waters said. "I really liked Charlie going out there and having a great game for us. We want him to be aggressive and he was tonight.
"We're trying to get better each and every game with this young team and trying to make the right decisions and as long as they do that, we'll be okay. We've got to keep the defensive intensity up because we're really not a big power team. Our focus is speed and that's who we are."
The Vikings wasted little time in jumping on Grambling right from the start, scoring the first seven points of the game. After two free throws by Kamczyc to open the scoring, Lee hit a three-pointer and a jumper to make it 7-0 less than three minutes in.
The lead quickly swelled to double figures (16-5) on a Douglas layup and was pushed to 20 points (29-9) when Mason finished a layup at the 7:36 mark.
It was 43-17 at the half as the Vikings held the Tigers to 4-of-23 (.174) shooting in the first 20 minutes, while dominating the glass (24-9).
A 15-5 run to start the second half pushed CSU's lead to 58-22 with 15:15 to play as the Vikings used 58-percent shooting for the game (34-59) to earn the win.
The Vikings hit 8-of-16 (.500) from three-point and also held a decisive 39-24 advantage on the boards.
CSU dished out 23 assists on its 34 baskets.
Terry Rose scored 16 points to lead Grambling.
The Vikings are back in action on Monday (Nov. 12) when CSU opens play in the NIT Season Tip-Off against Bowling Green. The game will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Mich.
