The Cleveland State Vikings looked how a preseason conference favorite should look tonight as they defeated the visiting Valparaiso Crusaders 66-42 tonight at the Wolstein Center. CSU Senior J'Nathan Bullock, who is a preseason all-Horizon League selection, led the way with 10-13 shooting and accounted for 19 points and sophomore Norris Cole chipped in 12 in the winning effort. The 29 points by Bullock was the second most in his illustrious career with the Vikings being surprised only by a 39 point outburst last season.

The game was decided early when the Vikings went on early run in the game and cruised the rest of the way. The Vikings led 31-14 at intermission and the route was on and the countdown to the awaited matchup with Butler could officially start. The announced crowd of 1574 got their biggest cheer late in the contest when Valparaiso coaching legend Homer Drew got tossed from the game on two technical foul calls. This was the first time that 30 plus year coach had been ejected in his career and called it kind of a strange experience. The altercation, which from this vantage point looked like an awfully quick tossout from a coach, came after the referees missed a goal tending call and then a further missed call which drew some criticism from the legend. Drew blamed inexperience from his young team for tonight's poor showing which his normally well prepared team.

In the other locker room, Vikings head coach Gary Waters was glad that his team came out its shooting funk after starting the year ice cold. Waters was also happy with his defense which held Valpo to only 31% shooting from the floor.

The Horizon League's newest rivalry in Butler-Cleveland State is set for Thursday night at 8:00 pm. The game will have a national audience as ESPNU will televise the ballgame between the teams that met for the Horizon League Championship last season.