Free Live Odds - Scores and Odds - Sports News - Sports Information - Live Scores - Sports Statistics - Sports Articles - Sports Standings - Live Scor

GAME NOTES: The Cleveland State Vikings try to complete the season sweep of the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers this afternoon as the two Horizon League foes clash on the floor of the Gentile Center in Chicago.

Cleveland State enters the weekend in third place in the conference standings with a record of 7-4, trailing only undefeated Butler and Wright State. The squad has pieced together a four-game win streak, thanks to a 74-63 victory over Illinois-Chicago here in the Windy City just two nights ago.

As for the Ramblers, they were quickly moving in the opposite direction with four straight setbacks and defeats in seven of the last eight outings overall, but that was prior to Thursday night's 92-85 overtime triumph versus Youngstown State at home. Things don't get any easier for Loyola coming up because they are on the road at nationally-ranked Butler just two days from now.

Loyola leads the all-time series between the two programs by a count of 22-13, although it was the Vikings who logged a 62-57 win at home in the first meeting of the season last month.

The Vikings put four starters in double figures on Thursday night, starting with Trevon Harmon who tallied a team-best 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor. D'Aundray Brown came up a rebound shy of a double-double with his 15 points, while Norris Cole did manage to turn the trick with 13 points and a game-high 10 assists, while Jeremy Montgomery tacked on 13 points of his own as well. After 23 starts, Cole leads the team in both scoring (16.4 ppg) and assists (89) overall and has actually improved his efforts on the glass ever so slightly when it comes to battling league foes. Montgomery (12.9 ppg) and Harmon (11.0 ppg) are the two biggest threats out on the perimeter for the group, combining for 95 triples thus far, but overall the team is hitting at just 35.7 percent, which is below the 39.8 percent currently put forth by the competition.

Despite losing Terrance Hill just four minutes into the meeting with Youngstown State because of a contact technical foul, the Ramblers still fought their way through 40 minutes and got to overtime with enough energy to come out the other side with a seven-point win. Geoff McCammon led five players in double figures with 25 points, while Courtney Stanley added 18 points and nine assists. Marcus Thomas produced 17 points off the bench, Ben Averkamp 12 points and Walt Gibler 10 points and seven boards in only 19 minutes of action. Even with his early ejection, Hill is still the top scorer for this team with his 11.6 ppg, in spite of his 38.1 percent shooting from the floor. Gibler has been a huge spark off the bench with 11.1 ppg and 5.1 rpg, but his mere eight assists and 39 turnovers tells the story of a player who is used to doing it his way. Loyola is posting a mere 65.1 ppg at the moment, but at least the unit is only giving up 65.5 ppg at the same time.

Cleveland State has been anything but great on the road this season, but right now the Vikings seem to be dialed in and ready for action anywhere they can get it, so expect to see a CSU tally in the win column.