BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - With Wright State turning cold from the field in the second half, Bowling Green State took advantage with an 8-0 run to defeat the Raiders 70-55 in the Falcons home opener Wednesday.
Wright State went the final 10:10 of Wednesday’s game without a field goal. The Falcons won the battle of the paint with BGSU winning down low 30-16.
The loss drops WSU to 2-1 on the season in its first road game of the year. The contest marks the beginning of a six-game road trip for the Raiders. WSU’s loss at BGSU marked the Raiders’ fourth consecutive loss on the road versus the Mid-American Conference.
“First road game, it is a very young team now,” Wright State head coach Billy Donlon said. “You have two guys who played last year in Chrishawn (Hopkins) and Reggie (Arceneaux). No one else played minutes on last year’s team. I am proud of the fact that we came to a place where they have 85 percent of their team back from a year ago and for 30 minutes, we were there.”
Chrishawn Hopkins was the only Raider in double digits with 13 points. Germantown native Zack Denny came off the bench to score 18 points to lead all scorers. Denny was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.
The Falcons forced the Raiders to play from the outside with WSU shooting 7-of-26 from outside.
“They did pack it in, that is why we got a lot of wide-open 3s,” Hopkins said. “We were getting wide-open shots, we just weren’t making any shots. All of our guards made great plays to get wide-open shots.”
Wright State held a 28-27 lead at halftime despite Hopkins being held to just two points in the first.
“I told them at halftime that Bowling Green would try to make this game about the paint,” Donlon said. “They would bring everything to the rim.”
WSU’s lack of depth inside showed against a bigger BGSU squad. The Raiders only played three forwards. With Steven Davis getting in early foul trouble, the Raiders had to rely on a four-guard lineup for most of the game. The Falcons exposed the Raiders’ weakness by the end of the contest.
“The offense they run is dribble-drive to get their senior guards some offense in space,” first-year BGSU head coach Chris Jans said. “The game-plan was to have some pride in our work."
While the Raiders spent most of the first 10 minutes of the second half trailing, the deficit was manageable as WSU was within two possessions.
“The first 20-25 minutes, we were pretty good,” Hopkins said. “We were down five with nine minutes to go and, I won’t say we gave up, but we let their lead get into us.”
Before WSU made its final field goal with 10:10 left, the Raiders were down 49-46. Within five minutes, the Falcons opened up a 13-point lead to put the game out of reach.
“It felt like a lid on the basket,” Hopkins said. “Coach was just saying that some nights, our shots aren’t going to fall. We were getting great, wide-open shots and they just weren’t falling.”
In the second half, Davis and Grant Benzinger fouled out limiting an already shorthanded WSU squad.
The Raiders were without the services of forward JT Yoho remained on suspension. Guard Kendall Griffin also did not make the trip.
