The Cleveland State men's basketball team battles Valparaiso at the Wolstein Center tonight with first-place in the Horizon League on the line.

CSU (20-3, 9-2 Horizon League) are in first-place in the Horizon League holding a slight half-game lead on second-place Valpo (16-6, 8-2). The Vikings have won five straight and the Crusaders have won six of their last seven games.

"The best team we will play (this weekend) will be here on Thursday," said CSU coach Gary Waters. "This could be for the championship."

It's also a matchup of two of college basketball's best coaches with two completely different philosophies.

Homer Drew is an offensive whiz with a record of 364-299 in 22 seasons at Valpo (633-421 overall, 33 seasons). His Crusaders lead the Horizon League in offensive field goal percentage (48 percent), which is 22nd in the nation.

While Waters is a defensive genius with a record of 93-65 in five seasons at CSU (264-200 overall, 15 seasons). Waters teams take pride in shutting down their opponents. His Vikings lead the Horizon League in defensive field goal percentage (39.8 percent), which is 34th in the nation.

"Valpo has a good coach (Homer Drew) that understands the offensive game," said Waters. "It's going to come down to their offense versus our defense. If we don't stop their offense chalk it in the books.

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The Cleveland State men's basketball team will start a three games in six days stretch this week that will determine their seeding for next month's Horizon League tournament.

"We got three tough games," said CSU coach Gary Waters. "This is a big weekend for us."

CSU stands at 20-3 overall and 9-2 in the Horizon League. The Vikings are in first-place in the Horizon League, a half-game ahead of Valparaiso.

On Thursday, CSU will host Valpo (16-6, 8-2 Horizon League) at 7 p.m. with first-place on the line. The Crusaders have won six of its past seven games and two of its last three meetings against CSU.

"The best team we will play (this weekend) will be here on Thursday," said Waters. "This could be for the championship."

On Saturday, CSU will face their arch-rival Butler (14-8, 6-4) at noon in a nationally televised game on ESPN2. The Vikings have lost seven of its past eight games to Butler.

On Monday, CSU will travel to Detroit (11-12, 5-6) at 7 p.m. The Vikings have only won twice in 23 games at Calihan Hall.

CSU's only two losses in league play this season have come against Butler and Valpo during consecutive road games in January.

The good news for CSU is they are undefeated at home this season (12-0) and have won 14 straight at the Wolstein Center dating back to last year.

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Cleveland State's Norris Cole is quickly becoming the front-runner to win the Horizon League's Player of the Year Award.

Cole's numbers speak for themselves. He leads the Horizon League in scoring (20.2), assists (5.0) and steals (2.4), and is eighth in rebounding (5.5).

One thing that should help his case is that CSU is sitting all alone on top of the Horizon League standings after the Vikings defeated Illinois-Chicago, 63-49, on Thursday at the UIC Pavilion.

CSU (19-3, 8-2 Horizon League) are a half-game ahead of Valparaiso (15-6, 7-2), a game ahead of Wright State (14-8, 7-3), and are 1 1/2 games ahead of Butler (14-7, 6-3).

Seven of the past eight Player of the Year winners have come from the team with the best record. The only exception was Butler's Brandon Polk during the 2005-06 season.

The senior from Dayton had another Player of the Year type of a game against UIC, finishing with a game-high 22 points.

It was his 11th game this season that he has scored 20 points or more, which leads the league. The next closet players with the most 20 point performances this season are Green Bay's Rahmon Fletcher, Butler's Matt Howard and UIC's Robo Kreps, with six each.

With UIC holding a slight 14-12 lead, Cole picked up his second foul with 9:57 remaining in the half and sat on the bench. The Flames then went on a 7-0 run to take a 21-12 lead.

CSU coach Gary Waters was forced to put his star back into the game and Cole responded by scoring six straight points to get CSU within 23-21 with 3:50 to go.

In the second half, it was Cole's steal and lay-up that gave CSU the lead at 41-39 with 14:08 remaining. It was their first lead since 3-2. The Vikings would not relinquish the lead. Cole would score nine points the rest of the game to help CSU preserve the victory.

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The Cleveland State men's basketball team have won three games in a roll since that dreadful weekend in Indiana three weeks ago when the Vikings lost both games at Butler (79-56) and Valparaiso (64-58).

The Vikings credit a team meeting they had after those loses as the reason why they got back on track.

"We were wondering what was going on at the time," said junior guard Jeremy Montgomery. "So we had a team meeting and changed our mindsets to defense first."

Entering this week's games, CSU stands at 18-3 and 7-2 in the Horizon League, which is tied for first-place with Valparaiso (15-6, 7-2 Horizon League). Butler and Wright State are a game behind them, both are 6-3 in the conference.

This week CSU is on the road for their annual trip to Chicago at Illinois-Chicago (5-15, 0-8) on Thursday and Loyola-Chicago (12-8, 3-6) on Saturday. While Valpo host Butler (14-7, 6-3) on Saturday in its only game of the week.

Montgomery ends slump: Montgomery broke out of a 10-for-30 slump in his previous four games, going 5-for-8 from the field for 17 points against Wright State on Saturday.

"I don't really focus on scoring points because on any given day anyone on this team can play well," Montgomery said after the game. "When my shot was not falling I was just trying to lock down my defender."

The Chicago native has been in a season long slump this season. He's shooting 37.4 percent from the field, 29.6 percent from 3-point range and 74.2 percent from the line.

Those numbers are down from last season when he shot 44.2 percent from the field, 40.4 percent from 3-point range and 85.1 percent from the line.

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