by The first place Cleveland State Vikings took on the 3rd place Milwaukee Panthers in a rematch from their December battle. Where the Panthers were victorious at home in 79-67 matchup. The Vikings came in with vengeance on their mind, from the previous game against the Panthers.
The Panthers came in looking to build momentum on their last matchup against IU Indy and hoped to make this a second straight win for them to move higher in the ranks. The matchup looked to be a heated one, both teams went into this game laser focused, looking to show no mercy to each other.
The air was thin in the arena from the tension in it between both teams. The Vikings were relentless to start the matchup, hounding the Panthers as if they were mortal enemies. A full team effort was on display for CSU on both ends for the first half of the first half. The cohesion in the paint from the bigs, Reece Robinson, Dylan Arnett, and KJ Debrick staggered the Panthers tremendously with them being such an athletic team.
They weren’t able to create good opportunities to score. CSU opted to go over screens and trap when it looked like the Panthers would get a good scoring chance. The Vikings ran out to a 25-10 lead with seven minutes left in the first half. At the heart of all of this was Tahj Staveskie who was leading the team in scoring up until this point with Tevin Smith right behind him.
The first half was a clear display of dominance on the Vikings end. The defense was astonishing as they held the Panthers to a 20 point half. On the other end, Tahj Staveskie led the charge on offense with 16 points at the top of the scoreboard. His ability to control an offense and hold the Panther’s defense in the palm of his hand was a sight to see. His quickness and ball handling opened up so many scoring chances for the Vikings as they essentially cruised to a 41 point half. The concern was if the Vikings could keep up that level of play and what type of adjustments the Panthers would make to all the traps they had faced.
The Panthers entered the second half with some adjustments. They went into a primarily 3-2 zone on defense and went with a more old school style of basketball on offense with more midrange attempts. I thought that was a great adjustment considering how the Vikings had been able to pack the paint and control them on the perimeter. The In-between game is almost a lost art in modern basketball and it was great to see them go into that mode.
The game got even more physical than it was in the first half as both teams were scrambling. While The Panthers were fighting to get back in the game and the Vikings were trying to stop the comeback. The Vikings were able to quickly adjust to the 3-2 zone by exploiting the mismatch with the bigs. The Panthers decided to push the pace, especially on the inbound and on the break which was a good way to get ahead of the Viking’s half-court trap. Kentrell Pullian and Aj Mckee did an amazing job at pushing the speed of the game and taking what the defense gave them.
The star of the night was Tahj Staveskie with 30 points from all over the floor. His composure when the game got tight and the physicality ramped up propelled his team higher. The ability to slow everything down when the game is moving fast is a skill that not many players have and he displayed that. The Panthers made the game close but it just wasn’t enough as the Vikings were too poised.
The Vikings walked out of this game with some redemption from their previous matchup with the Panthers and look to keep building upon the good habit of winning into the playoffs. Their record improves to 18-7. The Panthers move to 16-9 but still remain atop the rankings and have the playoffs in sight as well as the season is coming closer and closer to an end. Both teams remain in good spirits and will more than likely finish off this season strong.
