HUGHES SPARKS RAIDERS
Youngstown native scores 13 in second half to help beat Penguins.
There’s no place like home for Wright State junior guard Mark Hughes.
Playing against Youngstown State tends to bring out the best in Hughes, a Youngstown native, and that was the case again Monday as he scored 13 points and made several key plays late as the Raiders pulled away from the Penguins for a 77-67 victory at the Nutter Center.
“I think it means a little more to me, just being from there,” Hughes said. “It’s always good to win against your hometown. It feels good.”
The victory was the seventh in a row for the Raiders (14-5 overall, 6-0 Horizon League) and kept them in sole possession of first place in the Horizon League.
Hughes was one five WSU players to finish in double figures, but the most significant contribution was his defense against Cameron Morse, as he and freshman forward Everett Winchester combined to hold the talented YSU senior guard to two points on 1-of-12 shooting.
“On the ball, Mark is a tremendous defender,” WSU coach Scott Nagy said. “He had (Morse) most of the night.
“Mark was good defensively in the first half, but offensively he was non-existent,” Nagy added. “He passed up shots. I thought he played very passive. I talked to him about it. I didn’t yell at him, I just said ‘We need you to get going.’ And he did.”
Hughes scored all 13 of his points after halftime, six of which came on a pair of 3-pointers early in the second half as WSU rallied from a seven-point deficit.
Hughes also had four assists and three steals, the last of which came against Morse as the Penguins (5-14, 3-3) were trying to slice into a six-point lead with four minutes to go.
Hughes’ 3-pointers contributed to a season-high 10 made by WSU on 24 attempts.
Freshman guard Jaylon Hall hit his first three from beyond the arc and scored 16 points to share team-high honors with freshman center Loudon Love, who added a team-high six rebounds.
Sophomore guard Cole Gentry connected on his first four 3-pointers on the way to scoring 14 along with a game-high six assists, while senior guard Grant Benzinger added 13 points.
Despite getting next to nothing from Morse in the first half, the Penguins put together an 18-3 run that began at the 11:03 mark that didn’t end until a Parker Ernsthausen basket in the paint with 1:54 remaining before the break.
The focus the Raiders put on Morse left the 5-foot-10 Gentry to try to guard Braun Hartfield, who scored 18 of his game-high 26 in the first half to send the Penguins into the locker room with a 38-35 edge.