It was a record-setting night for the Cleveland State men’s basketball team as the Vikings took care of Oakland 92-75 Thursday night at the Wolstein Center.

The Vikings protected home court and improved to 2-1 in Horizon League play and 7-6 overall. Oakland fell to 3-7 and 1-2 in the league. The win is Cleveland State’s third in a row and second straight in league play.

Cleveland State controlled the game throughout leading for over 25 minutes including the entire second half. The Vikings committed a program record low three turnovers and balanced it with 21 assists on 34 made field goals.

The Vikings won the rebounding battle, shot a sizzling 47 percent from three-point range and finished 13-of-16 from the free throw line. The Cleveland State lead grew as large as 20 early in the second half, and each time the Golden Grizzlies threatened to trim the deficit to single digits, the Vikings had an answer.

Tevin Smith (0) led the way for CSU finishing with a career night. Smith scored 37 points, shattering his previous career best of 24 set earlier this season against Eastern Michigan, and shot 63 percent from the field. He connected on 3-of-7 from three-point range and was perfect on six attempts from the charity stripe. His point total is the highest registered by a Viking this season and the most scored in a single game since December, 2020 when D’Moi Hodge scored 47 against Purdue Fort Wayne. Smith added six rebounds, two assists and two steals to his stat line.

Tahj Staveskie (1) also had a big night offensively for the Vikings, finishing with a new season high of 20 points. Staveskie set a career high with six made three-pointers on eight attempts, good for 75 percent shooting from long range. Staveskie finished 7-of-11 from the field and added two rebounds and two steals.
 

Image

Chase Robinson (22) was the third Viking in double figures finishing with a season best 14 points. Robinson shot 50 percent from the field finishing 5-of-10 and added two three-pointers. After setting a career mark with eight assists in the Brescia game on Saturday, he followed up with six more assists in Thursday’s game.

Ebrima Dibba (6) led the way with a season-high eight dimes in the winning effort. Dylan Arnett (12) fell one point shy of a double-double, finishing with nine points and 11 rebounds on the night. The rebounding mark is Arnett’s fourth double-digit rebounding performance of the season.

The game was back and forth early on, with Oakland landing the early blows to take the early advantage. Oakland held a 10-6 advantage five minutes into the game and widened its lead to 18-12 just under eight minutes in. The six-point lead would be the largest Oakland would have all night.
 

Image

Cleveland State slowly chipped away at the Oakland lead and eventually worked back to a tie with just under five minutes to play in the first half. An Oakland turnover led to a Dibba steal and a fast break and-one finish from Smith, with the three-point play tying the score at 30 apiece with 4:44 to go in the opening half.

Cleveland State owned the final four-plus minutes of the first half, outscoring Oakland 14-5 the rest of the way to take a 44-35 lead into the halftime break. The scoring duo of Staveskie and Smith punctuated the half with a 5-0 mini run in the final minute to push the lead just shy of double digits. Staveskie connected on a three with 52 seconds remaining and following an Oakland miss at the other end, Smith nailed a short jumper with five seconds left which ignited the home crowd and gave the Vikings a momentum boost headed into halftime.

Cleveland State continued its surge coming out of the halftime locker room. The Vikings started the second half on a 14-3 run to push the lead to its largest margin at 20 points. A Staveskie three capped the run which made it 58-38 Vikings with 15:31 to play.

The lead remained in double figures the rest of the way as Oakland drew no closer than 10 points. Each time the Golden Grizzlies looked poised to cut it back to single digits, Cleveland State responded with a key bucket to maintain the double-digit margin.

The Vikings return to the Wolstein Center on Sunday for the final non-conference game of the 2024-25 season, with a noon tip-off against Midway.