CLEVELAND, OH--- IUPUI, who coming into this game was 6-45 since the start of last season, almost came back to beat Cleveland State Sunday afternoon, but CSU managed to hold the Jaguars and win 78-72 moving into another four way tie for first place in the horizon league with a 9-3 conference record.
CSU has won 8 out of the last 10 matchups against IUPUI, who after this season, will be known was Indiana University at Indianapolis. Drew Lowder got off to a very hot start right away, within the first 3 minutes and 15 seconds, Lowder had 8 points that came from a fadeaway jumper and a couple 3 pointers, 2 steals, a lob pass to Tae Williams, and a defensive rebound. Lowder would finish with 15 points, 3 steals, 3 assists and 4 rebounds on the day. Deante "Spider" Johnson also had quite a day, reaching a career high in assists with 9, although he scored only 1 point, Spider loves the role of getting his teammates involved and it showed Sunday afternoon.
The second half was where things got interesting, IUPUI would go on a 24-10 run late lead by Jlynn Counter who had 13 points and DJ Jackson who had 11. IUPUI would run a matchup zone defense that significantly slowed down CSU, especially from behind the arc, CSU shot 54% from behind the arc in the first half, compared to 0% in the second half, FG percentage was also down for CSU, the Vikings shot 59% in the first, that dropped down to 47% in the second half.
The Vikings will travel to Detroit Mercy to play the Titans on February 2nd at 7pm, you can hear that game on Fox Sports 1350 The Gambler, the free iHeartRadio app, or HERE