Streak at 8 on Gentry's career night
First-place Raiders try to continue rolling tonight against Milwaukee.
Wright State ran its winning streak to eight Thursday night and stayed in first place in the Horizon League with an 80-67 victory against Green Bay at the Resch Center.
The Raiders (15-5, 7-0 HL) led by as many as 23 points in the second half on the way to their 11th win in the last 12 games.
WSU will look to keep things going tonight at Milwaukee.
Highlights of Thursday night’s win:
Gentry goes deep
Fifteen of sophomore guard Cole Gentry’s careerhigh 23 points came from beyond the arc, where he was 5 for 5. The five 3-pointers also were a career high.
Monday against Youngstown State, Gentry hit his first four 3-pointers and finished 4 of 5. Over the last five games, he’s a scorching 13 of 15 (86.7 percent) from 3-point range and 26 of 43 (60.4 percent) overall.
“It seems like every game he just keeps getting
better,” WSU coach Scott Nagy said.
Gentry’s five 3-pointers were part of a season-high 11 made the Raiders on 21 attempts. The 52.4 percent- age from beyond the arc was the team’s best since going 12 of 21 at Detroit on Dec. 31, 2016.
Led by Gentry, Wright State put five players in double figures for the second consecutive game.
Freshman Everett Winchester had 14, which is the most he’s scored against a Division I opponent (he had 18 against Tiffin and 14 against Ohio Valley), while junior Mark Hughes added 13, freshman Loudon Love scored 12 and freshman Jaylon Hall contributed 10.
Wright State just missed getting six players in double figures as senior guard and leading scorer Grant Benzinger finished with eight.
“We have a lot of guys who score, and we have several capable of getting 20,” Nagy said. “When people stick to Grant, that’s just the way it is. They’re going to stick to him. So Grant’s got to screen. I know it’s hard, and he’s going to get less shots, but he’s going to get people open if he’s willing to do that, and he was.”
Junior Parker Ernsthausen did not score despite starting and playing 21 minutes, but he tied his career high with five assists and did not commit a turnover.
Big Lou’s boards
Love grabbed 14 rebounds to take over the conference lead in that category at 9.2 per game, which puts him on pace to make Horizon League history.
The conference record for average rebounds by a freshman is 8.7, set by Northern Illinois’ T.J. Lux in 1995-96, when the league was called was the Midwestern Collegiate Conference.
The Wright State season record for rebounds by a freshman is 9.5, set by Brad Smith in 1988-89, before the Raiders were in a conference.
Love recorded his eighth double-double of the season and fourth in the last five games.
Road warriors
The Raiders have won five consecutive road games for the first time since the 200708 season, which is the only other time they have done it as a Division I program.
The 1972-73 team, which competed at the Division II level, owns the longest winning road winning streak in program history at six.
Thursday’s 13-point margin was the largest against a conference opponent on the road in more than two years, since a 60-46 triumph at Northern Kentucky on Jan. 9, 2016.
Wire to wire
The Raiders held Green Bay to one field goal through the first 6 minutes, 46 seconds as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead.
It was just the second time this year Wright State has not trailed in a game. The other was in the 98-68 triumph of Ohio Valley on Dec. 5.
“Our kids were ready,” Nagy said. “We had a good start and we were good defensively. We talked a lot about being in gaps because they have a lot of good oneon-one players, and there was just nowhere for them to drive.”