The Vikings took on Canisius at the Henry J. Goodman Arena located inside the Wolstein Center, with a total of 1,732 in attendance Wednesday night.
The first half was nothing less than combative with both teams taking the lead at multiple timestamps. Canisius went on a 6-0 run to start things off, making Cleveland State work their way back up to take back the lead in the 14th minute.
CSU senior Tristan Enaruna was the leading scorer for the Vikings with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals. The half came to a close with Cleveland State holding a fragile lead of 35-34 over Canisius.
Safe to say, the Vikings quickly set the tone for the half, scoring two back-to-back threes. CSU seniors Tristan Enaruna, and Drew Lowder were huge contributors to the Viking’s lead of 7 in the first two minutes of the half.
With 13 minutes left, Canisius cut the Vikings lead to one. However, they couldn’t catch up the Vikings, who responded with a 10-0 run, expanding their lead to double-digits to finish off the game with a 71-61 win.
Defense was key for the Vikings, as it held their competitor to just 27 points in the second half.
Tristan Enaruna finished with 19 points, and 10 rebounds, making that his first double-double of the season. To add on, he had three steals and three assists, and was 7-11 from the field.
Seniors Tae Williams and Drew Lowder were two additional prominent players. Williams finished with 14 points on 6-12 field goal attempts. Lowder was 3-9 on his 3-point attempts, giving him a finish of 13 points.
Cleveland State men’s basketball has started their season off strong with a record of 3-1, averaging 83 points per game.
CSU will head to Ypsilanti to take on Eastern Michigan with a record of 1-2 in a 1 p.m. Saturday.