The Cleveland State men's basketball team fought back from a 13-point deficit with eight minutes remaining, but couldn't get the final shot to fall, as Wright State held on to a 49-46 victory Sunday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

Trey Lewis had a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, but his desperation three-pointer from 30-feet bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

With the loss, CSU (11-9 overall, 3-3 Horizon League) drops 2 1/2 games back of first-place Green Bay and a game-back of second-place WSU (12-9, 4-2 HL).

In the Horizon League, the top two seeds receive a double-bye into the semi-finals, while the third-seed receives a bye into the second round.

"We are okay. I don't feel bad at the place we are in," said Vikings head coach Gary Waters. "We got to get it back some place and can't give up anything now."

The Vikings played again without the services of Anton Grady and Sebastian Douglas, who missed their second straight game with concussions.

According to ESPN.com, CSU is 9-5 when all of its top players play and 2-4 when missing some of its top players.

CSU could of used them on Sunday as they never could get its offense on track against the HL's top defensive team.

Already this season, CSU has blown six leads with under two minutes to go, including a four-point lead Monday against Youngstown State with 1:34 left in the game.

Fortunately for the 1, 777 fans at the Wolstein Center, the Vikings were able to get a few defensive stops and held on for a 86-76 victory.

The Vikings (11-8, 3-2 Horizon League) won despite playing without Anton Grady and Sebastian Douglas, who missed the game because of concussions suffered in practice on Wednesday.

It was Trey Lewis and Jon Harris who stepped up for the Vikings. Lewis led the Vikings with a career-high 29 points on 9-for-14 shooting, while Harris added 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

"Coach was stressing in practice that people are going to have to step up. I was looking at it as opportunity," said Lewis. "Tonight he needed me to step up and be more of an offensive threat."

Waters praised Charlie Lee for running the show. Lee finished with 11 points, five rebounds and five assists.

"That was the best Lee played in a while," said Waters. "I thought he did a great job as a floor general."

Tommie McCune led OU (7-13, 2-3 HL) with 23 points off the bench, while Corey Petros added 15 points and 13 rebounds.

"Closing down the stretch came down to us making some big defensive plays," said Lewis.

Harris, a Miami of Ohio transfer, led the Vikings with a game-high 18 points, while Douglas added 14.

"We needed (the bench) today because our guards went a combined 5-for-27 from the field. If we didn't have them today we probably could have lost the game," said Vikings head coach Gary Waters.

CSU's usually consistent starting guard tandem of Bryn Forbes (16.4 points per game), Trey Lewis (13.8) and Charlie Lee (9.8)  had a rare off night, shooting a combined 5-for-27 from the floor for 16 points. They went a combined 3-for-14 from three-point range.

"They are not going to play us man-to-man anymore because our weapons are starting to create for themselves," said Waters. "So we are going to see a lot of zones and we got to hit some shots."

The Vikings, who have won four of its past five games, improved to 10-7 and 2-1 in the Horizon League, while the Titans dropped to 8-9, 1-1 HL.

Waters called this the best bench that he has had in his seven seasons at CSU. He said the team goal is to score 25 points from the bench every game. On Wednesday, CSU's bench combined to score 34 points against the Titans.

"The difference between this team is (I know) I can write down 25 points (from the bench) before we play the game," said Waters. "I know Jon and Sebastian will get their points. That is a great insurance to go out and play the game."

Harris made all seven of his shots from the floor and was 3-for-4 from the line. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists. The Twinsburg native is averaging 9.8 points per game and is eighth in the HL in rebounding at 6.2 per game.

Waters earned his 143rd win at CSU, moving him past Kevin Mackey to sit at No. 2 on the Vikings’ all-time coaching list. He now only trails Ray Dieringer, who won 149 games as coach of the Vikings from 1969-83.

"He was a great coach. He started this whole success thing of Cleveland State [basketball] during the 80's. It's a honor to be in the same window with him," Waters said on passing Mackey. "It's predicated not on me, but the players. If you have good players you have success. We had that the last six years."

Sophomore forward Anton Grady led four Vikings in double-figures with 19. Sophomore guard Trey Lewis contributed 17, while Bryn Forbes added 16 and Sebastian Douglas 10 for the Vikings who improved to 7-6.

Senior forward David Jackson and Lionel Perkins led LaRoche with nine points each

"Sometimes you need a breather like this to get back on track," said Waters.

It was only fitting that CSU's defense played a key role in the victory.

The 42 points given up by CSU were the lowest point total allowed in nearly five years when they held Notre Dame College to 40 points on Dec. 27, 2008..

LaRoche (6-4) shot 33.9 percent from the floor. CSU's aggressive man-to-man defense caused 18 turnovers that led to several easy layups and dunks in transition for the Vikings who held advantages in points off turnovers (28-6) and fast break points (27-2).

The bad news, though, is that CSU had one of their worst performances of the season in a 73-61 setback against Akron at the Wolstein Center.

"We didn't play well at all," said Vikings head coach Gary Waters. "We missed 10 layups and 10 free throws. This is college basketball. They should be able to make layups." 

Waters did not think that they were still fatigued from playing in Wednesday's heartbreaking triple overtime loss at Drexel.

"{The issue is} not the triple overtime game, it's losing a triple overtime game. That's were the problems comes because it's in your mind and in your head," said Waters. "I'm a believer that everytime you lose a game it takes a little bit something from you, and you got to get it back. Did we get it back? I'll take responsibility for that. We didn't get it back."

Lee was one of the few bright spots for the Vikings. He had a team-high 14 points off the bench. Jon Harris added 12 points for the Vikings who dropped to 4-5.

Nick Harney, a Benedictine product, led Akron with 15 points. Nyles Evans and Reggie McAdams, who went a combined 7-of-10 from three-point range, each added 12 for the Zips who improved to 2-2.

It's not how you start, but how you finish. For the Cleveland State men's basketball team closing out games has been a major issue this season.

The Vikings have held second half leads in every game this season.

They held a nine-point lead at San Francisco with nine minutes left and lost by nine.

On Monday, CSU held a 12-point lead at No. 3 Kentucky with 14 minutes left only to lose 68-61.

On Saturday, CSU had a six-point lead on Ball State with 11 minutes to go.

This time they were able to close out the game, using a 19-5 run to push the lead out to 20, then held onto a 78-55 victory at the Wolstein Center.

"I thought our guys came out to play today, especially on the defensive end," said Vikings head coach Gary Waters. "We held them to 35 percent. That was the game."

The Vikings played without starting point guard Charlie Lee, who missed his second game with a strain ACL.

"The ligaments are in place," said Waters. "He has to get stronger. He can't move laterally as quick as he could, so we are taking our time."

Sophomore guard Trey Lewis played well again in his second straight start replacing Lee in the starting lineup.

The Cleveland State Vikings could be without starting point guard Charlie Lee (knee) and Devon Long (ankle) when they travel to No. 4 Kentucky on Monday night.

Lee twisted his knee and Long twisted his ankle in the Vikings' 87-74 victory over Robert Morris on Saturday.

"We can't afford to lose (Charlie)," said CSU head coach Gary Waters.

Kentucky, the winningest program in college basketball history with 2,115 wins, features seven former McDonald's High School All-Americans. They are averaging 89.6 points per game.

"They have a couple of guys inside that are men," said Waters. "They come after you physically. Their physicality is unbelievable."

A key for the Vikings will be to keep the Wildcats off the glass. They are averaging 49 boards a game and have been out-rebounding its opponents by nearly 19 boards.

UK has a clear height advantage over the Vikings with six players over 6-8. The Vikings only have two players over 6-8 (Anton Grady and Ismaila Dauda).

The Vikings will have to keep a body on UK's 6-9, 250-pound freshman forward Julius Randle who has a double-double in every game this year. Randle, who is averaging 20.8 points and 13.6 rebounds, is rated the No. 2 NBA prospect in this year's draft by ESPN's draft guru Chad Ford.

The Cleveland State men's basketball team staged a dramatic second half comeback on Saturday afternoon at the Wolstein Center to pull out a 73-69 win over Iona.

Trailing by 15 at the half, CSU outscored Iona 44-25 in the second half.

The Vikings (1-0) knocked off a quality Iona (0-1) team that has been to two straight NCAA tournaments and were picked to finish second in the MAAC.

"We had to develop our identity," said CSU head coach Gary Waters. "And when I mean identity, I mean these kids have to believe they can win big games."

The Vikings held the Gaels to 11 points under its NCAA-leading scoring average of 80.38 points per game last season.

Give credit to Waters who made a halftime adjustment going to a smaller lineup to start the second half. He replaced Marlin Mason and Devon Long with the quicker Sebastian Douglas and Jon Harris.

"I had to match their quickness," said Waters.

The move would pay off for the Vikings as they started the second half on a 11-0 run to close within 44-40 on Bryn Forbes' second three-pointer of the half.

Yet it was another adjustment later in the game that might have turned the game around.

Midway through the second half, Waters went to an even smaller lineup. Going with Charlie Lee at the point, Trey Lewis at the two, Forbes at the three, Douglas at the four and Anton Grady at the five.

The Cleveland State men's basketball team opens the regular season at the Wolstein Center on Saturday afternoon against Iona, an NCAA tournament team last season.

CSU returns eight letterwinners and four starters from last years squad that finished 14-18 and lost 10 of its final 14.

"We are a total different team from a year ago," said Vikings head coach Gary Waters, whose squad was picked to finish third in the Horizon League. "Last year we were the youngest team in America. {This year} we have about nine starters on the team. I started a different lineup in {CSU's tour of} Europe this summer. We may do that the whole year."

The Vikings are coming off a 78-62 exhibition victory against Lake Erie College on Tuesday. Sophomore guard Bryn Forbes led the Vikings with 21 points in the win, with Jon Harris adding 14.

Waters is excited about the team's depth this year.

"We are going to play 10 every game," said Waters. "The goal is to play no one more then 28 minutes."

The Vikings are led by the inside-outside duo of sophomores Anton Grady and Forbes, who were both named to the preseason All-Horizon League second team.

Grady, a 6-8 forward, missed most of the last season after suffering a season-ending knee injury six games into the season. The Cleveland Central Catholic product was leading the Vikings in scoring (13.7) and rebouding (5.5). 

With three games left in the season, the youthful Cleveland State men's basketball team is starting to prepare for the future.

"I told them in the locker room that the future doesn't start next year, it starts right now," said Vikings head coach Gary Waters. "We can't go into next season with a losing mentality. We got to go in with a winning mentality."

Waters said the winning mentality does not have to do with wins and losses, but how they perform in games and how they execute what they are trying to do.

CSU's future was on display in the Vikings' 88-67 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

The Vikings' guard tandem of freshman Bryn Forbes and sophomore Charlie Lee combined for 44 points against Milwaukee.

Forbes, a native of Lansing, Mich., tied his career-high record with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field.

"I think Forbes should be Freshman [Newcomer] of the Year," said Waters. "He has been the most consistent player."

Forbes has scored in double figures in 19 of his last 21 games. He's 13th in the Horizon League in scoring, averaging 12.2 points per game. In Horizon play, Forbes has been even better, averaging 14.9 points per game (sixth-best). 

Lee, a Milwaukee native, torched his hometown team with 20 points—17 of them coming in the second half.

"Coach Waters had a talk with me about getting back to the way I was playing the first 10 games of the season," said Lee, who also added six assists, five rebounds and two steals. "[Waters told me] just slow down and let things come to me."