The Wright State men’s and women’s basketball teams went 50/50 on the weekend in their games with their archrivals, the Northern Kentucky Norse. While one Raider team failed, the other one succeeded.
On Friday night in the men’s game, Clint Sargent’s crew (13-16, 7-11 Horizon) lost their third straight game after getting beat by Northern Kentucky 80-76 at the Nutter Center. As a result, the WSU men’s team remain in eighth behind the Norse who are in seventh.
Wright State trailed 46-41 at halftime, but Brandon Noel went on his own personal 8-2 run and ended it by welcoming Keeyan Itejere to Ginger Island with a double-handed rim-rocking poster jam right before Itejere answered back with a dunk of his own at the other end, making it 55-54 WSU with 12:04 to go. The Raiders then used an 9-3 run midway through the second half to increase their advantage to nine at 66-57 with 9:02 remaining courtesy of three layups from Jack Doumbia, a rainbow three from the logo by Keaton Norris, and a layup from Noel. Northern Kentucky (13-15, 8-9 Horizon) used a timeout to stop the run and regroup before coming back with a 10-4 run of their own to cut the Raider lead to 70-67 with 6:08 to play thanks to a three-pointer from Dan Gherezgher, a layup from Sam Vinson, another three from Trey Robinson, and free throws from Gherezgher.
The two sides traded baskets for the next two minutes with another layup from Doumbia as WSU would still be up 76-72 with 4:03 remaining, but that bucket proved to be Wright State’s very last points of the evening. NKU closed the night by holding the Raiders to 0-of-6 from the floor down the stretch and scored the final eight points of the contest with a layup and a three from Gherezgher, followed by three made free throws from Josh Dilling for the comeback victory under the Friday night lights.
Noel led everyone with 22 points and 11 rebounds as he earned his ninth double-double of the season, with 18 of his 22 points coming in the second half. Solomon Callaghan scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half and shot 4-of-9 from beyond the arc, but he turned the ball over a game-high five times. Michael Imariagbehad all 13 of his points in the first half and shot an efficient 6-of-7 from the field while also finishing with five rebounds and five assists. Doumbia scored all 12 of his points in the final 20 minutes.
Wright State ended the night with a very respectable 55 percent overall mark from the field (33-of-60), but they shot a poor 32 percent on three-pointers (6-of-19) and 30.8 percent on free throws (4-of-13) while also making just one trey ball in the second half.
WSU won the rebound battle 38-28 and finished with a 52-44 cushion on points in the paint, but NKU had 16 points off the Raiders’ 14 turnovers.
Northern Kentucky shot 53.6 percent from the floor (30-of-56), but they were held to just 38.46 percent in the second half (10-of-26). The visitors shot 46.7 percent from deep (7-of-15) and 56.5 percent from the foul line (13-of-23), and they also committed only eight turnovers. All five starters for Darrin Horn’s squad scored in double-figures: 17 points for Gherezgher, 16 for Dilling, 14 for Vinson, 12 for Robinson, and 10 for Itejere. As a result of the win, the Norse will host a home game on March 4 in the 1st Round of the Horizon League Tournament.
On Saturday afternoon at Truist Arena, the tables turned in the favor of the WSU women as Kari Hoffman’s used a second half comeback to earn their third consecutive win with a 68-62 hard-earned victory while also ruining the Lady Norse’s Senior Day. The two teams are now tied for sixth place in the Horizon League standings.
The Norse led 14-11 after the first quarter and begun the second quarter on a 7-0 run to push their lead to 21-11 with free throws and a three-pointer from Macey Blevins and a layup from Halle Idowu. They pushed the lead to 12 at 32-20 with just 2:44 left in the half on as Abby Wolterman cleaned up her own mess with a bucket in the paint before a three-pointer was made by Kamora Morgan. WSU scored the next five points with a layup from Olivia Brown, a free throw from Claire Henson, and a pair of foul shots from Lauren Scott before a Mya Meredith layup made it 34-25 at recess.
After halftime, the NKU women kicked off the third quarter on a 9-2 run with three consecutive layups from Idowu, Wolterman, and Blevins; followed by a Meredith foul shot and a Jaci Jones layup to go up by 16 at 43-27 before the third quarter media timeout. After the media timeout ended, Ellie Magestro-Kennedy traded a three-pointer with Jones to make it 46-30 before WSU scored the next nine unanswered points on big three-point shots: one from Macie Taylor and the next pair from Makiya Miller to cut the deficit down to seven at 46-39. After another layup from Morgan, Brown countered with a layup of her own before Magestro-Kennedy hit her second triple of the quarter to make it a 48-44 deficit. Then, Wolterman made a pair of free throws with 15 seconds to go in the period, allowing NKU to take a 50-44 lead going into the fourth and final stanza.
After a Miller free throw to start the period, NKU came right back quarter with layups from Idowu, Wolterman and Blevins; with another Magestro-Kennedy three-pointer in between the buckets to make it 56-48. After a turnaround shot in the paint from Henson, Jones was fouled by Chloe Chard Peloquin and hit a pair of attempts at the charity stripe to maintain Northern Kentucky’s eight-point lead at 58-50 with 5:10 to go. WSU then scored six of the next seven points with a drilled three from Taylor followed by a midrange jumper from Chard Peloquin and a Miller layup, with a Blevins foul shot in between to cut the deficit down to 59-57. NKU responded with a three from Blevins to make it 68-62, but that turned out to be the Lady Norse’s final points of the afternoon. The Raider women ended the day holding NKU to 0-for-5 from the field through the last 2:41 and went on an 11-0 run with free throws and back-to-back layups from Staton, followed by a total of five made free throws combined from Henson, Magestro-Kennedy, and Taylor to put the cream cheese on the bagel.
Both women’s teams had 13 points off turnovers, with WSU turning it over 12 times and NKU committing 15 of their own.
The Wright State women (9-19, 7-11 Horizon) shot 41.1 percent from the field (23-of-56), 36 percent from three (9-of-25), and 76.5 percent from the foul line (13-of-17). Miller led the Raiders in scoring with 14 points on 5-of-12 shots from the field. Staton recorded her Horizon League-leading 12th double-double of the season with 12 points (5-of-10 FG), 13 rebounds, and a pair of blocked shots. Also, Staton reached 600 career NCAA rebounds. 11 points off the bench for Magestro-Kennedy; 10 points and four assists off the bench for Taylor; and nine points, four rebounds, and five assists for Henson. Magestro-Kennedy and Taylor also recorded a pair of steals apiece, while Magestro-Kennedy and Miller both shot 3-of-6 from downtown.
Jeff Hans’ ladies from Northern Kentucky (10-19, 7-11 Horizon) have lost their third straight game as well. They shot 46 percent overall (23-of-50), 35 percent from three-land (7-of-20), and 52.9 percent at the charity stripe (9-of-17). Blevins led all scorers with 17 points (6-of-10 FG). 12 points for Meredith, 11 points for Idowu; eight points, 13 rebounds, and three blocks for Wolterman; and seven points each for Jones and Morgan.
Up next: Both teams will face the Cleveland State Vikings in midweek matchups. Chris Kielsmeier’s CSU women are in third place in the conference, while the men’s team – led by head coach Daniyal Robinson – are in first place.
– The women’s game will start at 7ET at the Wolstein Center on Wednesday, February 26 and can be seen on ESPN Plus with Ed Daugherty and Britt Korth calling the game.
– The men’s game will be at the Nutter Center on Thursday, February 27 at 9ET and will be nationally televised on ESPN2 with Jordan Bernfield and David Padgett on the call.
