• Recap
• Bleachers

Cole lifts Cleveland St. past Loyola (Ill.) 80-66

Mar 3, 2010 - 3:04 AM CLEVELAND(AP) -- Norris Cole scored 15 points, dished out 11 assists and had four steals to lead Cleveland State to an 80-66 win over Loyola of Chicago on Tuesday night in the first round of the Horizon League tournament.

Aaron Pogue finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for the fifth-seeded Vikings (16-16), the defending tournament champions. Cleveland State will play either Illinois-Chicago or Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the second round.

Jeremy Montgomery scored 11 points and D'Aundray Brown added 10 for Cleveland State.

The Vikings didn't have much trouble with the eighth-seeded Ramblers (14-16), building a 42-22 lead with 2:12 left in the first half on a layup by Anthony Wells.

Walt Gibler's two free throws trimmed Cleveland State's lead to 57-52 with 8 minutes to play. But the Vikings answered with seven straight points to extend Loyola's losing streak to five games.