Cleveland State is coming into this game with a 20-13 record this season and they are 11-9 in the conference. They did not have a great season in the conference as they were not one of the more dominant teams and now they are left in a position where they need to win this tournament to get the NCAA bid. They have been playing very well in their recent games though and even finished the regular season gaining a lot of steam. They have won their last 3 straight as well as 4 of their last 5 games and their defense has been much better in these. They average 72.9 points allowed per game this season but recently they have allowed 70 points or less in each of their last 4 games. They have also played 2 rounds in this tournament already and have been playing very well in it as they opened with a 19 point home win over IUPUI and followed up with a 12 point win on the road against Youngstown State who was a very good team in the conference that finished 2nd in the regular season at 14-6. Their defense has been great in these 2 games and even their offense has improved more as they have scored 82+ points in both games. They are going up against an Oakland team that is 21-11 this season and finished the regular season with the best record in the conference at 15-5, but Cleveland State is still going to have a lot of confidence here as they are coming off of that big win against Youngstown State and now get to play this one at a neutral location. Oakland has been playing well recently as they have won their last 2 straight as well as 7 of their last 8 games, but they have also had a much weaker schedule recently with 3 of their last 5 games being played against bottom 3 teams in the conference. They have only played 1 game in this tournament as they beat Purdue Fort Wayne at home by 10 points but now they are not going to have home advantage here in a much different neutral environment and their offense has not been as good as Cleveland State recently, scoring 75 points or less in each of their last 4 games. Cleveland State is going to get up for this game knowing that it is their only way into the NCAA Tournament and they are going to fight right to the end of this game. Cleveland State will cover the spread in this game.