By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)
GreenBayPhoenix.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio
(GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Visiting
Green Bay (7-11, 3-5 HL) put four players in double figures and were plus-eight
in turnover margin Friday night at Cleveland State (16-4, 6-2 HL), but the
Phoenix missed 14 free throws and were outrebounded by 20, resulting in a 78-68
loss in Horizon League action.
Sophomore Kam Cerroni (Sussex, Wis.) and freshman Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) scored 15 points apiece for Green Bay, with
Cerroni knocking down 5-of-8 three-point attempts. Senior Steve Baker (St. Paul, Minn.) and sophomore Alec Brown (Winona,
Minn.) also reached double figures for the Phoenix, scoring 12 and 10 points,
respectively.
A 16-4 spurt by the host Vikings turned a two-point
Green Bay lead into a 26-16 CSU advantage with 6:44 left in the opening half.
After Cerroni drilled a three to cut the deficit to 26-24 with 3:56 to play,
the Vikings scored the next seven points and took a 36-30 lead into the locker
room.
Brown, the team's leading scorer and Preseason
All-Horizon League selection, was limited to just eight minutes and three
points in the first half due to foul trouble.
Cleveland State opened the second half with a 13-4 run
to increase its lead to 17, and after the Phoenix closed the gap to 10 on
back-to-back buckets from Sykes, CSU scored eight in a row to take its biggest
lead of the game (59-41) with 10:32 remaining.
Down 16 with 4:41 on the clock, Green Bay used a 14-4
run to close the lead to six. Cerroni hit his fifth and final three of the
night with 52 seconds left, making it 74-68. After two free throws from CSU's
Trevor Harmon, a Cerroni three attempt went in and out on the next possession, and
the Vikings finished the win at the line.
Cerroni's five threes and 15 points were both career
highs, and the sophomore is now leading the Horizon League in three-point
percentage at 46.2 percent (30-65). He has now hit at least two three-pointers
in six of the past seven games, a stretch in which Cerroni is 19-for-37 from
long range.
Sykes continued a strong stretch since his 18th
birthday with 15 points, but the freshman made just 7-of-12 free throws as
Green Bay connected on just 16-of-30 from the charity stripe.
Harmon led the Vikings with a game-high 19 points
while freshman Anton Grady came off the bench to register 10 points and 13
rebounds. Grady helped Cleveland State to a 43-23 advantage on the glass and helped
to offset 21 CSU turnovers. Green Bay, which committed 13 turnovers, scored 27
points off the Viking miscues.
Green Bay will have a quick turnaround before playing
at Youngstown State Sunday at 1:05 p.m. CT. The Penguins, now 10-8 overall and
5-3 in league play, posted a 68-66 victory over league-leading Milwaukee on
Friday night.
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