Cleveland State wins in Coach Waters’ 500th

Associated Press

CHICAGO

Jeremy Montgomery scored 16 points and Cleveland State shot 68 percent Friday night in a 65-47 victory over Loyola of Chicago.

Trevon Harmon, Aaron Pogue and Anton Grady added 10 points apiece for the Vikings (19-4, 9-2 Horizon League), who made 25 of 37 shots, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range.

Joe Crisman’s 14 points paced the Ramblers (5-17, 0-12), whose 10-game losing streak is their longest in 19 years.

Cleveland State’s third consecutive victory came as Gary Waters coached his 500th game. He is 290-210 overall and 119-75 in six years with the Vikings. League-leading Cleveland State used an early 9-2 run to forge an 11-6 advantage and never trailed again.

Fairfield 77, Niagara 69

BRIDGEPORT, CONN

Derek Needham scored a career-high 32 points and Rakim Sanders had a double-double as Fairfield rallied for a win over Niagara sweeping the season series.

The point total was the most by a Stag since Mike Evanovich also posted 32 points in an overtime win against George Mason University in the 2010 CollegeInsider Tournament.

Needham made 11 of 16 field goals and was 6 of 11 from long range for the Stags (12-10, 7-4 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), who also beat the Purple Eagles 79-75 on Dec. 2.

Rakeem Sanders had 14 points and 14 rebounds and Desmond Wade added 15 points and eight assists.