After dropping their first game of the season at Oakland, Wright State would begin their next series on national television against Youngstown State. The world would see a thriller as the two faced off on ESPN2 for game one.
The Penguins would be without their star, Darius Quisenberry. He was named to the 2019-20 All-Horizon League first team.
Scott Nagy would later go on to say, “We had a pretty good idea he wasn’t (going to play) … Really, it probably helped them. Something like that, it galvanizes a team.”
Wright State would start a stellar 3-3 from the three and keep it close through the first ten minutes. The next ten were all Penguins.
Heading into the under-four media timeout, Youngstown State went on a 12-0 run, taking a 37-28 lead. They did this through their swarming defense, especially on Loudon Love. He finished with only 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Due to this defense, the Raiders took 23 three-point shots leading to a total of six free throw attempts on the game. Completely changing the way they play.
Youngstown State would finish the first half on a 14-3 run, taking as much as an 11-point lead. They would lead 39-31 at the break, shooting 51.5%. Wright State only shot 34.3% from the field, with no free throw attempts.
The Penguins would continue their momentum into the second half, beginning on a 4-0 run, leading by 13 at the under-16 media timeout.
Right out of that break, Wright State would begin to regain momentum. Tanner Holden would hit an and-one, then a big three to cut the game to four with 13:12 remaining. He would finish with a team-high, 17 points.
Just a couple minutes later, Tim Finke would hit two big free throws, giving the Raiders their first lead since the first half.
The rest of the game would go back-and forth, but Youngstown led by three going into the final minute. A shot clock violation by the Penguins would give WSU the ball with 24.5 remaining.
Tim Finke would run into the upper corner of the court, pass it in to Loudon Love, then pass it back out to Finke to tie the game up with 13.5 remaining! That capped Finke’s career-high night of 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Right after that, Naz Bohannon would get open under the basket and Youngstown State would hit the game winning layup at the buzzer, giving the Raiders a two-game losing streak.
“That was my fault more than anyone else’s,” stated Scott Nagy postgame.
Trey Calvin would finish with 13 points and Grant Basile was a perfect 5-5 from the field, scoring 11.
Wright State would look to snap their poor play on Saturday afternoon, and did so by leading 11-4 going into the first media timeout.
An 16-2 run heading into the next media timeout would give the Raiders a lead of 23-9. They wouldn’t look back from there.
Tanner Holden scored point number 15 out of the under-eight media, giving the Raiders an 18-point lead. Holden would have 24 points on the night.
“They got us last year, then they got us last night. It was definitely like a revenge game. I just wanted to play my heart out for the team, and get the win for us,” stated Holden postgame.
The Raiders would lead by 23 at the break, 49-26. Completely different from the rest of the season.
Wright State dominated teams in the first game of the first three series, falling off in the second game. This series was different.
“I didn’t sleep last night, not well,” said Coach Scott Nagy postgame. “It was much harder to be on the other end of it.”
With 13:20 to go, the Raiders would extend their lead into the thirties, doubling up Youngstown, 66-33.
At the 6:05 mark, Loudon Love picked up his 1,000th career rebound. He would finish the game with 8 of those, along with 15 points.
Wright State would lead by as much as 42, finishing at a final of 93-55. Tim Finke and Grant Basile would each pick up double-digit points in the starting lineup. Alex Huibregste and James Manns had big games off the bench, scoring 12 and 11 respectively.
The Raiders will look to move back into first place with a weekend series against first-place, Cleveland State. Friday’s game is nationally televised on ESPNU.
