Cleveland State and Akron take to the road after success at home - Local co... http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/college_impact/print.html?entry=/2013/12/...

Cleveland State and Akron take to the road after success at home - Local colleges this morning

forbes-csu-fouled-ldj-2012-vert.jpg scored a career-high 27 points Wednesday night against which is a good sign for the Vikings as they go on the road next. (Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer) Elton Alexander, The Plain Dealer By Elton Alexander, The Plain Dealer Follow on Twitter on December 19, 2013 at 8:32 AM, updated December 19, 2013 at 8:49 AM

CLEVELAND, -- Solid victories at home Wednesday night send Cleveland State and Akron teams on the road feeling good. The Zips left Thursday Morning for the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii this weekend, while CSU has a Saturday game at Toledo.

Cleveland State: The breakout game came just in time for Bryn Forbes and the . The 97-72 victory over Notre Dame College was expected. The career-high 27 points from Forbes should give CSU (6-5) a boost as the Vikings look to give UT (10-0) its first loss on the season.

Forbes had scored just 20 points just once in the previous four games getting nine points against Akron, 11 against Western Carolina and 15 against Ball State. A quality shooter, hitting 49.2 percent overall and 47.7 percent on 3-pointers, the key for the 6-3 sophomore is just to get shots up.

It does not take a lot for Forbes to score a lot. He was 5-of-10 on 3-pointers against Notre Dame College, and now can look to the 2 p.m. game against the Rockets with extra confidence. CSU will have to have its defense in order against UT as the Rockets are undefeated for a reason.

They have averaged a whopping 87.9 points a game shooting 51.4 percent from the field on the season. The Rockets have scored over 90 points five times already this season and have a double-figure scorer at every position on the court.

Akron Zips: It is no secret where the Zips are weak. But that weakness, which is ball handling at point guard, is starting to become a strength. Teams are pressuring Akron, all over the court trying to force turnovers. But the flip side of that is, in the open court is where Akron is at its best.

That showed itself again with Akron's 79-60 victory over Detroit. In the first half, when the game was pretty much played in the half court, Akron struggled to score 21 points and trailed Detroit, 30-21.

"We could have been down 19 points the way we played,'' head coach said.

Akron shot 23.1 percent in the first half and had nine turnovers as the Zips were clearly not comfortable playing at the Titans pace. That changed in the second half when three straight 3-pointers tied the game in less than two minutes and exposed the Titans own backcourt issues.

"We never got control of the game again,'' said Detroit head coach Ray McCallum, who saw his son and point guard Ray McCallum Jr., leave early for the NBA after last season.

1 of 2 12/26/13 12:56 PM Cleveland State and Akron take to the road after success at home - Local co... http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/college_impact/print.html?entry=/2013/12/...

"I'm not the kind of coach who calls every play from the sidelines and brings the ball downcourt. Point guards feel the game, play the game, and direct the game. We're struggling with that right now. We only turned the ball over seven times, but we still lost by 20.''

With open shooters in every corner, and playing at their best on the fly, Akron scored 58 points in the second half, only had three more turnovers, and shot 71.4 percent after intermission. Off the bench senior Quincy Diggs had 10 points and seven assists.

The Zips next game will be against Oregon State, 7:30 p.m. Sunday night, in Hawaii.

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