Waters: 'Fate is biting at our heels'

Thursday and Saturday were extremely important to the Vikings, but that's an understatement. Two victories would have put the them in the driver's seat of the Horizon League. They must now pray for some help in order to own the HL Championship.

After a 59-41 loss to Valparaiso on Thursday and a 52-49 loss to rival Butler on Saturday, CSU's regular season fate depends on Valpo to lose another game if the Vikings want to obtain the No. 1 seed in the HL Tournament.

Thursday night, the Vikings fell apart after the Crusaders started the game with a quick 17-1 run. Valpo forward Ryan Broekhoff sored the first 11 points for the Crusaders.

The Vikings cut the lead to 12 points at halftime, but the Crusaders hit two wide-open threes to open the second half.

The Vikings never recovered.

"When [the Crusaders] hit three-pointers, it just cuts your spirit out," head coach Gary Waters said after the loss to Valpo at the Wolstein Center.

If there was a shot at salvaging the weekend, it would have been against the Butler Bulldogs, who have seen two consecutive National Championship game appearances.

CSU was without guard D'Aundray Brown, who attempted to play in the Valparaiso game with a groin pull, but was clearly not 100 percent.

Saturday told almost the same story as Thursday night. Butler led by 12 points at halftime, but CSU came back in the second half. The Vikings took a 45-43 lead after a 3-pointer from guard Trevon Harmon (12 points) with six minutes left. However, the experienced Bulldogs were able to close out the game.

Forward Anton Grady, whose hot hand grabbed 18 points and 13 rebounds, missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have extended the game into overtime.

"Anton Grady can score some points," Waters said. "We need to use that part of our offense, but we need others around him contributing."

If there is a positive note to take out of these two losses, it would be Grady stepping up as a freshman. He had a combined 23 points and 22 rebounds between the two games.

Even with Valparaiso getting blown out Saturday night by Youngstown State University, CSU (20-6 overall and 10-4 in HL) remains a half-game behind in the standings.

"There is a word called ‘fate' out there, and it is trying to come after us," Waters said. "It's biting at our heels. I told my guys that we worked too hard, and we're going to fight our gate."

The Vikings will take on Milwaukee in Wisconsin on Tuesday at 8 p.m. and host Drexel University on Saturday, at 11 a.m.