CSU Vikings Men’s Hoops Home Opener Tonight Vs Malone

GAME PREVIEW:
• Cleveland State will host Malone on Tuesday (Nov. 17) at 7:00 pm in the home opener for the Vikings.
• CSU is 0-1 this year, dropping the season opener, 65-53, to Akron in the NE Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer Doubleheader on Saturday night at Kent State.
• The game will be broadcast live on AM 1220 WHKW and www.whkwradio.com with Al Pawlowski providing the play-by-play.
• Pawlowski will also have the play-by-play on ESPN3.
• Malone is 2-0 this season with wins over Davis & Elkins and Cedarville.

THE MALONE SERIES:
• Tuesday’s game will be the 11th all-time meeting between the two schools with CSU holding an 8-2 lead.
• They have not played since Dec. 9, 1989, a 94-87 Malone win.
• CSU had won the previous seven meetings in the series that dates back to 1958-59.

GAME 1 RECAP – AKRON 65, CSU 53 (11/14/2015)
• CSU dropped its season opener, 65-53, on Saturday night to Akron in the NE Ohio Coaches vs. Cancer Doubleheader.
• The game was played at Kent State.
• Andre Yates led the Vikings with 13 points and a career-high nine rebounds.
• Demonte Flannigan added 11 points and eight rebounds, while Daniel Levitt had eight points, including two three-pointers.
• Rob Edwards finished with eight points, five rebounds and four steals for CSU.

HOME OPENERS:
• The Vikings are 42-42 (.500) overall in all-time home openers.
• CSU has won eight straight home openers and 10 of its last 12. The eight straight wins marks the longest streak in program history.
• The Vikings are 33-17 (.659) in home openers as Cleveland State after going 9-25 (.265) in home openers as Fenn College.
• Gary Waters is 8-1 in home openers at CSU. His eight wins in home openers are second most, trailing just Ray Dieringer’s nine.

FOR STARTERS:
• Kenny Carpenter, Demonte Flannigan and Terrell Hales all made their first career starts in Saturday’s game vs. Akron.
• Flannigan totaled 11 points and eight rebounds, while Hales had five points and Carpenter finished with three rebounds and three assists.
• The Vikings lost 143 starts from last year due to graduation or transfer.
• Last year, CSU returned a Horizon League-best 118 starts.

PRESEASON HL POLL:
• CSU was tabbed seventh in the Horizon League Preseason poll, earning 173 points.
• Valparaiso was the preseason Horizon League favorite, earning 418 points and 36 first place votes.
• Oakland was second in the poll with 368 points and six first place votes, while Milwaukee was third with 344 points.
• Detroit received 289 points and the last first place vote to finish fourth, while Wright State (253), Green Bay (215), CSU (173), UIC (125), Youngstown State (93) and Northern Kentucky (87) rounded out the poll.

GOOD GENES:
• Freshman forward Jibri Blount is the son of Mel Blount, who played 14 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and is a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.
• Blount was a second team all-district and All-Ohio honoree after averaging 16.0 points and 11.0 rebounds as a senior at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.
• He led the team to a 26-1 record and a spot in the regional finals.

GOOD GENES PART 2:
• Freshman Jeron Rogers is the son of Carlos Rogers, a star basketball player at Tennessee State and the 11th pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics.
• Rogers was one of 10 finalists for the Mr. Basketball Award in Michigan as a senior at North Farmington HS last year.
• He averaged 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals to lead team to regional appearance final as a senior.

FOR THREE:
• CSU has made a three-pointer in a school-record 535 straight games.
• The Vikings have hit at least three three’s in 85 straight games.
• The last time CSU failed to make a three-pointer was Feb. 21, 1998, when the Vikings were 0-for-8 in a 60-57 win over Detroit.

THE LEAD VIKING:
• CSU head coach Gary Waters is in his 10th season at CSU.
• He is the third longest tenured coach in program history, behind Ray Dieringer (14 years) and Homer E. Woodling (13 years).
• Waters is 347-263 in 20 years as a head coach and his 176 wins at CSU are a program record.
• He ranks second in CSU history in games coached with 304 (Dieringer – 360) and second with a .580 win percentage, going 176-128 at CSU (Kevin Mackey – .673).

#MOTOR CITY MADNESS:
• The Horizon League Championship will take place at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich., from March 5-8.
• It is the first time the tournament will be at a neutral site since 2002.
• Under terms of the five-year agreement, Olympia Entertainment will host the men’s basketball tournament beginning in 2016.
• The first two years of the tournament will be contested at venerable Joe Louis Arena, home to the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings, before moving to the state-of-the-art Detroit Events Center, currently under construction in downtown Detroit.

UP NEXT:
• The Vikings travel to Rhode Island for a 7:30 pm contest on Saturday (Nov. 21) to begin play in the Cancun Challenge.
• CSU heads to Cancun, Mexico for two games next week. The Vikings play Rider on Tuesday (Nov. 24) at 12:30 pm and will play at either 12:30 pm or 3:00 pm on Wednesday (Nov. 25) against South Dakota State or Houston Baptist.