Cleveland State falls to Houston in the first round of March Madness
By: August Vullo
Friday night the Cleveland State University Vikings faced off against the Houston Cougars in a David versus Goliath matchup but, in this case, Goliath came out on top. CSU was the 15 seed while Houston was seeded second and ranked sixth in the regular season. From the beginning most March Madness fans picked Houston to win, but Cleveland sports fans are used to being the underdog just to look at the Browns and the Cavaliers.
The game started off with a small point deficit, with defense being the priority for both teams. It took seven minutes for one team to score double digit points. Unfortunately, the team that did was Houston. It took CSU ten minutes into the game to get into double digit points. Despite this, it was still a close game at the half with Houston up on Cleveland State 37-29.
The second half was not so kind to Cleveland State. There were several calls against them and Houston started to rapid fire shots. The Vikings fell to Houston with a final score of 87-56. The leading scorer for Cleveland State was D’moi Hodge with eleven points, nine of them coming from threes.
The Vikings should not be judged by this game alone. The season as a whole is what matters for the team and CSU fans alike. There were many bright spots for a team this season; that for the last five years have had losing seasons. The Vikings were on a mission this season- a mission to make it into March Madness. This goal was accomplished despite the season challenges thanks to Head Coach Dennis Gates and players that are willing to fight through adversity to win. It is safe to say CSU will see a lot of winning in the future.