Long scoring droughts are becoming Cleveland State's Achilles heel.

CSU squandered a 13-point second-half lead and might have blown its chances of hosting a first round game in next month's Horizon League tournament with a 66-59 setback to Green Bay on Friday night at the Wolstein Center.

With the loss, CSU drops to 12-15 and 4-9 in the Horizon League. They are two-and-a-half games back of Illinois-Chicago (6-6 HL) and three games back of Youngstown State (7-6 HL), who defeated Milwaukee 94-80 on Friday. UIC travels to Loyola of Chicago on Saturday.

"We let another one get away," Vikings head coach Gary Waters said. "We went through a stretch again where we couldn't score. And we didn't defend as well as we did in the first half."

The Vikings held a 40-27 lead just 49 seconds into the second half.

Then, it all fell apart for CSU.

It all started after Green Bay called a timeout and switched to a zone defense. The zone stymied CSU. The Vikings would go the next 8:59 without a basket.

"I really don't know why we struggle against the zone," said CSU's Charlie Lee, who scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half. "The zone kind of slowed me down because they had two people on me all the time."

The Phoenix scored 15 straight points to take a 42-40 lead on a pair of free throws from freshman forward Jordan Fouse.

"We turned the ball over about three times in that period of time," Waters said. "What it does is it unnerves everyone. Who we got out there is all we got. We got to deal with that until its changed."

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They say good things come to those who wait.

Cleveland State's Devon Long had to wait patiently for three years before he finally got an opportunity to play this season.

On Tuesday night, the Highland Park, Mich. native might of had his breakout performance in CSU's 66-60 victory over Youngstown State at the Wolstein Center. Long, who came into the game averaging 5.5 points per game, scored a career-high 23 points and added five rebounds against the Penguins.

"I knew my game was always there," said Long, who went 9-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line. "I had to rebuild my confidence."

CSU head coach Gary Waters said the game plan was to go right after YSU's shot-blocking forward Damian Eargle, who came into the game leading the Horizon League in blocked shots at 3.5 per game.

"I put on the board in the locker room that we had to attack the basket," said Waters.

That's just what CSU did.

The Vikings (12-12, 4-6 Horizon League) went down low early and often to Long.

The 6'7", 215-pound Eargle had no answers on how to slow down the 6'7", 260-pound Long.

"I told Charlie [Lee] as soon as you see me, throw it in there," said Long. "I was extra vocal [today]."

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The Cleveland State men’s basketball team put together one of its most complete games of the season, knocking off Detroit, 74-62, Saturday afternoon at the WolsteinCenter.

"I thought it was a team effort," said Vikings head coach Gary Waters. "I thought every player wanted to add something to have success tonight."

The Vikings (10-8, 2-2 Horizon League) led from opening tip to final buzzer and defeated a red-hot Titans (11-6, 3-1 HL) team that had won five straight and nine of its past 10 games.

Freshman Bryn Forbes led the Vikings with 21 points and eight rebounds, while senior Tim Kamczyc contributed 15 points and redshirt sophomore Sebastian Douglas added 11.

Forbes continues to emerge as CSU's best scoring threat. The native of Lansing, Mich. has scored in double figures in nine straight games and 11 times in his past 12 contests.

"My confidence is getting bigger and bigger every game," said Forbes, who went 6-of-12 from the field.

CSU's defense held the Titans to nearly 17 points under their scoring average of 78.8 points per game.

"Our goal was to hold them into the 60s," said Waters. "In every game they have played in the 60s they have lost."

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Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters tinkered with the starting lineup for the seventh time this season and might have finally found the right fit.

Waters replaced freshman Junior Lomomba with fellow freshman Bryn Forbes and it paid off.

Forbes, in his second career start, scored 14 points to lead the Vikings past Illinois-Chicago 60-50 at the Wolstein Center on Monday night. 

The Vikings improved to 9-7 and 1-1 in the Horizon League, while the Flames dropped to 10-5, 1-1 HL.

It was CSU's 11th straight victory over UIC.

"We had to have another scoring threat out there," said Waters. "What we are trying to do is establish a consistent lineup. In our last seven games, we have used a different lineup every game. Because we won today we can use the same lineup for the next two games."

Forbes has scored in double-figures in nine of his past 10 games.

"The best part is knowing that you helped your team win," said Forbes, who went 5-of-9 from the field.

CSU had one of their best defensive performances of the season as they held the Flames to 33.3 percent shooting and caused 18 turnovers that led to 19 points. They also out-rebounded the Flames 32-30.

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