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The Wright State Guardian
Friday, Jan. 24, 2025 | News worth knowing
Wright State Guardian

Men’s basketball: Raiders unable to overcome deficit, Thompson

After trailing by 17, Wright State went on a vigorous rally to cut George Mason’s lead to two, but the comeback came a little too late as the Raiders lost their first nonconference home game in two years 68-60 Tuesday evening.

Men's Basketball Photos: WSU vs George Mason

George Mason played its second road game of the year and was able to overcome a large Nutter Center crowd and snapped WSU’s six-game regular season home winning streak.

“I give credit to (Wright State head coach Billy Donlon) and his squad, they made a push at us and our guys were able to withstand that,” George Mason head coach Paul Hewitt said.

The rally started at the media timeout with 7:48 left when WSU trailed by 14 and continued until Joe Thomasson made his second of two free throws to cut the Mason lead to two with 1:19 left. The crowd of 4,685 stood as Thomasson and teammate Steven Davis waved to the crowd to cheer.

“Just keep fighting, keep playing hard, the game is not over,” WSU forward JT Yoho said after scoring a team-high 16 Tuesday. “Coaches kept preaching there is a lot of time left. We just wanted to get it less and less so at the media timeout (with 7:48 left), that was the focus.”

Wright State has made a few comebacks this season to win, but none as large as the 17-point deficit the Raiders tried to overcome Tuesday. Despite the deficit, there was a sense of belief on the WSU bench that a win was still within reach.

“We were right there, that was our mindset, just keep fighting,” Thomasson said. “We waited too late to make a run. We weren’t competitive enough tonight. We weren’t at all from the start to the end. At times, we had competitive spirit but as a team, our competitive spirit wasn’t there tonight?

After Thomasson’s two made free throws, Isaiah Jackson had his first shot blocked but instantly came back to make his second layup attempt with the shot clock expiring to give GMU a 64-60 lead. WSU was unable to score on its ensuing possession allowing the Patriots to take clock off and put the game out of reach.

George Mason’s size proved too much for Wright State as 6-foot-11 Mason center Shevon Thompson scored a game-high 24 points and pulled in 14 rebounds. He shot 9-of-11 from the field and proved to be a tough matchup for WSU center Michael Karena. Jackson added 22 for the Patriots.

Despite the furious comeback, Donlon thought his squad did not give a winning effort in Tuesday’s contest.

“Credit George Mason, I thought from the 10 minute mark of the first half until we went on our run in the second half, they came in here and punched us in the mouth and kept going,” Donlon said. “They are a very focused team. That is not our team you saw for about 30 minutes. That is not who we are.”

Wright State held a lead early in the first half. With just under 10 remaining in the first and WSU up one, freshman guard Grant Benzinger went diving head first into the court causing him to leave the court as he was bloodied. With Benzinger off the court, George Mason took advantage by going on a 17-4 run to take a 12-point lead. WSU was never able to regain the lead.

A Davis three-point play at the end of the half cut the Mason lead to seven at 35-28.

The Patriots started the second half on a 12-2 run with Thompson and Jackson scoring GMU’s first 10 points to start the half.


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