Ernsthausen’s smarts propelling Raiders’ defense

Nagy says junior’s communication skills set him apart.

Athleticism and instincts Senior forward Ally are certainly great qualities to Malott led the Flyers with look for inagood defensive 28 points and 13 rebounds player, but intelligence can against Kentucky in 2015. be every bit as important. She made 9 of 13 shots from That’s what makes Wright the field, 3 of 4 3-pointers State junior forward Parker and 7 of 7 free throws. Ernsthausen such a big rea

Best performance by son why the Raiders rank a reserve: Senior forward 10th in country in defensive Olivia Applewhite came efficiency, and why they are off the bench to compile in the NCAA tournament with 13 points and 16 rebounds a date against Tennessee at against St. John’s in 2013. 12:40 p.m. today.

“I’m as senior and the “Just being a good athlete bottom line is I didn’t want and having instincts doesn’t to go home today,” Apple- make you a great defender,” white said. “I figured our WSU coach Scott Nagy said. shots weren’t really falling, “Because Parker’s not a great so I could crash the boards. athlete. I think he’d be the That’s been my role all year.” first to tell you that. What

Best performance by a sets him apart defensively freshman: Austria had 21 is he’s very intelligent, and points on 8-of-13 shooting he’s the best communicator against St. John’s. we have on defense.”

Most u nd e rrated The 6-foot-11 Ernsthaumoment: Dayton lost 91-70 sen graduated with a douto No. 1 seed Connecticut in ble major in accounting and the Elite Eight in 2015, but finance in December and has it was almost a bigger story started his Master’s program that Dayton led 44-43 at half- in accounting. time. UConn hadn’t trailed “Everyone else will be on at halftime in two years and Twitter, and I’ll be on Yahoo! had been outscored in a half Finance,” Ernsthausen said. only 18 times in their previ“I do a little stock trading ous 301 halves. Dayton was on the side. I’m really into a 33-point underdog. that stuff.”

“I was just so proud of our His ultimate goal is to be team,” Malott said. “I don’t a CEO, and that take-charge think we have anything to persona is on display when hang our heads about. Obvi- WSU is on defense. ously, we would have loved “I think the coaches do to have won and gone to the a great job with scouting, Final Four, but I don’t think and then I can kind of visu- anybody expected us to get alize this is what we saw on this far.” film and see the play ahead of time,” Ernsthausen said. “That’s my goal, to try to help the other guys out, too, especially the guards because they have so much to think about with ball screens and things like that.” Contact this reporter at 937244-7400 or email David. Jablonski@coxinc.com.

Happy homecoming

No Wright State player will have a bigger cheering section today than freshman Jaylon Hall, who grew up 230 miles away in Houston.

“I’m definitely going to have a lot of family here,” he said. “I don’t know exactly how many, but it’s going to be a lot. I might have a mini student section just for me.”

Hall moved to Louisville prior to his freshman year in high school to play for his uncle and Doss High School coach Tony Williams and hasn’t often been back to Texas to see the rest of his family.

“My extended family hasn’t seen me play, and some of them haven’t seen me at all, since my eighth grade year,” he said. “So me just being in the state of Texas, it’s special.”

Hall has scored in double figures in three consecutive games and 11 of 16. But where he has shown the most improvement is on defense.

Special T

Nike contacted every team in the tournament to find out what their mantra was this year so they could make shirts for the players.

For Wright State, it was an obvious choice: The Ryan Custer-inspired “B3li3ve” that incorporates the injured sophomore’s jersey number.

“We were going to surprise the guys with them, but it leaked on Nike.com that they’re going to go on sale , so the guys were asking me how they could pre-order them because they all wanted them,” director of basketball operations Nick Goff said. “I kept telling them to hold on, hold on, but eventually I had to tell them.

“I threw it out in a group text and they all put the heart emoji on it,” Goff added.

“We obviously got one for Ryan, too, and he’ll wear it proud on the sideline.”