Cleveland State beats Sam Houston State 80-65

CLEVELAND — Norris Cole scored 24 points and had six assists to lead Cleveland State to an 80-65 victory on Saturday night.

Cole was 6-for-10 from the field as the Vikings (3-1), who never trailed, shot 25-for-47 from the field (53.2 percent). Cole also was 10 of 12 from the free throw line.

Sam Houston State (2-2) cut the score to 68-61 on Josten Crow’s free throws with 3:33 remaining in the game, but Trevon Harmon hit a layup and Tim Kamczyc hit a jumper to extend the advantage to 72-61 with 2:14 left.

Cole hit four consecutive free throws to pad the lead to 80-63 with 52 seconds remaining.

Harmon added 16 points and Jared Cunningham scored 10 for Cleveland State, which was 9-for-13 from 3-point range (69.2 percent).

Preston Brown and Lance Pevehouse scored 13 points each for Sam Houston State. Corey Allmond added 11 points.