Written by Ryan Aroney

---

Cleveland State wraps up the regular season this week with two home games against Detroit and Wright State. The Vikings (14-15, 9-7) lost two conference games last week to fall to fifth place in the Horizon League and must win one of the final two games to secure a home game in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament on March 2nd.

CSU can climb as high as third if it wins both games this week. Although the chance at the double-bye that comes with the top two seeds vanished with last week’s losses, the third seed is still important as it avoids a potential meeting with undefeated Butler until the championship round. The three seed also has an outside shot at hosting the championship if it advances to the championship and Butler gets knocked off in the semi-finals.

The Vikings are familiar with making a post season run as the Horizon League’s third place team. Just last season the Vikings won four games in a week as the third seed to win the Horizon League and clinch the automatic birth in the NCAA tournament.

 The Vikings will have to tweak the starting lineup down the stretch as starting guard Trey Harmon missed Saturday’s non-conference victory over Toledo with a concussion and is doubtful for this week’s games. Harmon is third on the team with 11.0 points per game.

 Detroit (16-13, 7-9) Thursday 7:30 p.m.

After a hot start, Detroit has lost five straight league games and seven of its last 11 overall.

The Titans are led by four players that average double-figure scoring, Chase Simon (14.6), Xavier Keeling (12.2), Thomas Kennedy (11.3) and Eli Holman (11.3).

Simon, a sophomore Central Michigan transfer, is a versatile 6-6 guard that averages 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game but also leads the team with 94 turnovers (3.2 per game).

Keeling, a 6-7 Indiana transfer, is a key piece for the Titans as he’s second in scoring and adds 4.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and nearly two steals per game.

The key for CSU will be pressure defense to force the turnover-prone Titans into mistakes against the full court press.

Wright State (18-10, 11-5) Saturday 2:00 p.m.

Wright State was picked to finish second in the preseason poll and the Raiders have lived up to expectations. Wright State has been hot down the stretch, winning seven-of-nine games, including seven-of-eight in conference play.

The Raiders are led in scoring by Vaughn Duggins (14.5) and Todd Brown (13.1). The duo both average over 33 minutes per game, shoot over 37-percent from three and knock down greater than 76-percent from the line. The 6-5

Brown averages 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while the 6-3 Duggins chips in 3.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists.

Despite the strong season, the Raiders are only 4-9 on the road this season. In the season’s first meeting, the Wright State forwards Cory Cooperwood (13 and 10) and Cooper Land (14 points in 21 minutes) dominated the Vikings front line.

For CSU to have a chance the Vikings will need Aaron Pogue to stay out of foul trouble and Jared Cunningham will have to have one of his better defensive and rebounding games of the season.