Wright State dropped its fifth out of the last six games on Monday night to Green Ba as the Phoenix got off to a hot start and never looked back as they held the lead the entire game winning, 71-58.
In the first half, the Phoenix got off to a quick seven-point lead and continued to build it. They shot 41.7 percent in the half and put up 13 more shots than the Raiders by grabbing four more rebounds and five more turnovers on defense. They had 14 second-chance points in the half and eight off of turnovers. Raiders Center, Michael Karena, led all scorers in the half with 11 points on five field goals. The score was 37-25 at the break.
“They jumped on us pretty quick,” Wright State head coach Billy Donlon said. “We took a couple of really bad shots early. I thought the first 10 minutes, we didn’t have a boxer’s mentality that you have to have.”
In the second half, the Raiders fought back and cut the lead down to nine with 15:33 left but would not cut the lead any closer.
Overall, Green Bay had 10 more points in the paint, 12 more points off of turnovers and nine more second chance points than the Raiders. Wright State turned the ball over 18 times in the game compared to Green Bay only giving up nine.
Donlon said, “I thought we allowed them to get under us some. I think with a lot of our younger players, the biggest bad habit you have on both sides of the ball in basketball is to stare at the ball.”
The Phoenix had five players score double figures in the game. Jordan Fouse had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Daeshon Francis went 7-7 from the floor with 14 points. Keifer Sykes, averaged 18.9 points per game going into the matchup was held to 13. Greg Mays scored 14 and Alfonzo McKinnie added 10.
For the Raiders, Karena went 7-7 from the floor with 17 points and eight rebounds. Guard Chrishawn Hopkins scored 10 points and Reggie Arceneaux had nine.
Donlon said, “Failure is how you improve. It’s failure that gets you to success. I think frustrations at times are okay.”
The Raiders are now 11-12 overall on the year and 3-6 in the conference. They will travel to Cleveland State on Saturday, Feb. 7 for another Horizon League matchup. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.
