NCAA News Wire
Cleveland State 73, Illinois-Chicago 53
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Guard Trey Lewis led a balanced attack with 18 points, and Cleveland State ran its winning streak to seven with a 73-53 Horizon League victory over Illinois-Chicago on Thursday at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland.
The second-place Vikings (18-9, 9-3) also received 15 points apiece from guard Bryn Forbes and forward Jon Harris, while forward Anton Grady added 12.
Flames forward Hayden Humes collected 13 points, and Kelsey Barlow added 12. Illinois-Chicago (5-20, 0-11) dropped its 14th consecutive game.
Cleveland State led 30-25 at halftime, then launched a 9-1 run early in the second half to put some distance on Illinois-Chicago. The Vikings pushed the margin to 39-30 after Harris’ 3-pointer at the 16-minute mark.
The lead reached double-digits a minute later, and the Vikings continued to pad the advantage. The Flames, meanwhile, went more than seven minutes without a field goal and shot just 17-of-48 (35.4 percent) from the field for the game.
Cleveland State’s biggest lead was 23 points after forward Ismaila Dauda with 10 seconds to play, but Flames guard Markese McGuire sliced the final margin with a 3-pointer in the last seconds.
The Vikings made 30 of their 60 shots from the floor.
Both teams resume Horizon play on Saturday. Cleveland State hosts first-place Green Bay, while the Illinois-Chicago visits Youngstown State.
