COLLEGE BASKETBALL

MEN Kansas ST. 69 CSU 59 It could have been a lot worse, but it surely could have been a lot better. Cleveland State, sputtering on offense when it could least afford, dropped its annual John McLendon Scholarship Classic game Saturday night at the Wolstein Center as Kansas State left town with a 69-59 win. The Vikings (1-2) had their moments against the Big 12 Wildcats (4-0), but never managed to put true fear into the undefeated visitors. CSU will have to settle for playing well in spurts, especially on defense, with the offense still a much-needed work in progress. "We're in a stage right now where we have to do a lot of things better," said CSU coach Gary Waters, whose club once again got off to a poor start. "The world's not going to end. We have to correct some things." The Vikings have to find a way to get off to a decent start. For the third straight outing, CSU could not find the basket during the first 20 minutes. The Vikings went 6-for-28 (21 percent) to trail at the break, 35-23. They hung around by making 10 of 13 free throws. With sophomore Norris Cole scoring 12 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, the Vikings made a couple runs to make it interesting. But each time their efforts were scuttled as KSU came up with the big baskets and CSU came up empty. A layup by sophomore Eric Schiele cut the KSU lead to 46-43 with 11:30 to go. But before CSU could get back on defense, senior forward J'Nathan Bullock was called for an intentional foul for throwing an elbow against KSU's Jamar Samuels. Bullock had to go to the bench with his fourth foul as well. "It was a bad call," said Waters. "J'Nathan got tangled up and they called a foul. It wasn't anywhere near an elbow." It blunted CSU's momentum as Samuels made both free throws and KSU's Darren Kent followed with a 3-pointer. The Vikings closed in again as Cole scored seven straight points, his 3-pointer narrowing the gap to 59-55 with 6:16 left. But the Wildcats answered with an 8-2 run, Jacob Pullen's third 3-pointer of the night giving the visitors a 67-57 cushion with 3:24 remaining. "When you get behind, there is less margin for error," said Cole. "As the game goes on it gets smaller and smaller. We have no excuses. We've been starting off slow. We're going to look at the positives and correct the negatives." CSU did turn around its shooting woes in the second half, getting 15 baskets in 28 attempts. But the Vikings' big two of seniors Cedric Jackson (five points) and Bullock (11) continued their struggles. They were a combined 4-for-20 from the field, with Jackson going 1-for-12 and missing all five of his 3-point attempts. He did have eight assists. Sophomore D'Aundray Brown finished with 10 points. "Right now we are not playing with all our guns," said Waters. "We're playing with our popguns. You can't do that against a team of that nature." The good-sized Wildcats put four players in double figures, with junior guard Denis Clemente pacing the offense with 16 points. The second cousin of baseball great Roberto Clemente supplied a lot of floor energy as he hit a pair of 3-pointers. Pullen finished with 15 points and Kent had 14. CSU is off to Miami, Fla., to play three games in the CBE Classic, facing Saint Leo on Monday at 5 p.m. Volleyball CSU's sixth-seeded women's volleyball team defeated Valparaiso in the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament at Woodling Gym on Saturday. The Vikings (10-18) will face top-seeded UW-Milwaukee (22-8) today at noon in the championship game, with the winner advancing to the NCAA Championships. CSU won the HL title a year ago. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: jmaxse@plaind.com, 216-999-5168 Kansas ST. (4-0) - Sutton 1-3 2-2 4, Kent 4-7 5-6 14, Colon 0-0 1-2 1, Pullen 5-10 2-3 15, Clemente 5-10 4-5 16, Brown 1-4 0-0 2, Werner 0-0 0-0 0, Merriewether 0-3 0-0 0, Samuels 5-8 5-6 15, Anderson 0-2 2-4 2. Totals 21-47 21-28 69. CLEVELAND ST. (1-2) - Brown 3-9 4-4 10, Bullock 3-8 5-5 11, Moore 3-4 1-2 7, Jackson 1-12 3-4 5, Cole 7-16 1-3 17, Schiele 2-3 0-0 5, Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0, Tandy 1-2 0-0 2, McCoy 0-1 0-0 0, Eppinger 0-0 0-0 0, Fields 1-1 0-0 2, Latas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-56 14-18 59. Halftime-Kansas St. 35-23. 3-Point Goals-Kansas St. 6-13 (Pullen 3-7, Clemente 2-3, Kent 1-2, Brown 0-1), Cleveland St. 3-14 (Cole 2-5, Schiele 1-2, McCoy 0-1, Brown 0-1, Jackson 0-5). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Kansas St. 36 (Kent 10), Cleveland St. 30 (Brown 8). Assists-Kansas St. 11 (Anderson, Kent, Pullen, Samuels 2), Cleveland St. 12 (Jackson 8). Total Fouls-Kansas St. 15, Cleveland St. 22. A-2,827.