Hustle makes up for inaccuracy in sixth straight home win
Defense, takeaways offset Raiders’ poor long-range shooting.
FAIRBORN — Wright State coach Scott Nagy prefers to go straight to questions instead of making an opening comment in his postgame news conferences, but he was so excited by what he saw
against Kent State on Saturday that he interrupted the media’s first query.
“I’ll start with a statement if you want me to,” he said.
The Raiders were abysmal on offense, especially from the 3-point line. But they were the tougher, scrappier, hungrier team — flashing the traits Nagy has tried to instill in his players from the first practice.
“All the things that go into who we want to be, we did all those things tonight,” he said after the 63-54 win before 3,448 fans.
“Obviously, we’d like to be better on offense, and we’ll get there. I’m less concerned about that
and more concerned about staying at this level that we were defensively — and the hustle plays. We saw kids on the floor making plays. I’m really pleased with the guys.”
The Raiders forced 24 turnovers and held the visitors to 19-of-52 shooting (36.5 percent).
While Nagy’s system isn’t designed to create havoc — he puts an emphasis on protecting the rim instead of extending the defense — the Raiders are generating 17.5 turnovers per game.
“We’re not a team that forces a lot of turnovers,” senior wing Grant Benzinger said. “That’s just not how our defensive style is. But it’s always good when you do that because it makes offense easier.
“You get in transition more and have a lot more open looks. Even though we didn’t shoot it well, we had a lot of open shots that will fall eventually.”
The Raiders (6-4) made only 4 of 22 3-pointers and were 20 of 52 from the field (38.5 percent). But they scored 18 points off turnovers, a big reason they won their sixth straight game at the Nutter Center — their longest streak since 2007-08.
Benzinger had 13 points to lead a balanced attack. Junior center Parker Ernsthausen had a season-high 11 points, as did freshman Jaylon Hall. Freshman Everett Winchester added 10.
The Raiders were in control most of the game. Hall’s inside bucket capped a 6-0 run that made it 29-19 with 2:49 to go in the first half. They led 31-24 at the break.
The Flashes (5-5), who won the MAC tournament title last season, cut the deficit to five early in the second half, but Benzinger made a 3-pointer and then scored inside to make it 40-28 with 15:34 to go.
Kent State, playing without injured All-MAC guard Jaylin Walker, whittled the deficit to 41-35 with 11:58 left. But the Raiders built the lead back to 12 with 8:27 to go on a pair of 3-point plays by Winchester.
Point guard Justin Mitchell had six points and a season-high 11 rebounds.
“I like that,” Nagy said of the Raiders’ balance. “I mentioned when we played Western Kentucky that they have six players averaging in double figures in scoring, and I had never seen that. But we’re very, very close to having that.”
Going into the game, Benzinger was averaging 14.0, Mark Hughes 10.6, Winchester 10.2, Justin Mitchell 10.1, Louden Love 9.8 and Hall 9.6.
“We are very balanced,” Nagy said. “We just need to shoot a better percentage. We had good shots tonight, and that’s all you can ask for.”