Thurgood Marshall graduate, Mark Alstork has been battling a foot injury all offseason but shined in his Raiders debut as he led Wright State men's basketball team with 27 points in their 77-69 victory over South Dakota in the NIU Showcase on Friday, Nov. 13.
The sophomore guard paced the Raiders with seven points in the first half before exploding for 20 in the second half in which WSU outscored the Coyotes 47-37.
It did not take senior forward JT Yoho long to get back into the mix of things after an injury-filled season last year as he sank the Raiders first basket of the season with a 3 pointer 1:22 into the game. He finished with18 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.
The first half was tight as neither team could gain much of an advantage.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, the Coyotes led by their largest lead at the time of six points before allowing the Raiders to go on a 7-3 run and head into the locker room down 32-30 at halftime.
The Coyotes opened the second half with a 7-0 run before freshman guard Alan Vest sank a deep jump shot to end the scoring drought and begin a dominant 20-7 run for the Raiders within the next eight minutes.
During the run Yoho scored seven straight points in one minute to cut the deficit to six. Two minutes later Alstork assisted on a 3 point basket to senior guard Joe Thomasson before scoring eight straight himself. Thomasson assisted Alstork on each basket during his eight point run giving the Raiders an eight point lead with 8:26 left.
Thomasson flirted with a triple-double as he finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
The Coyotes could not close the gap as they matched the Raiders with 22 points for the remaining eight minutes of the game.
Wright State shot 42 percent from the floor but got to the free throw line 25 times and converted on 19 of them.
WSU collected 29 of 33 missed shots by the Coyotes to post an impressive .878 defensive rebound percentage which was a focal point for head coach Billy Donlon earlier in the week.
The Raiders were without sophomore guard Justin Mitchell and senior center Michael Karena against the Coyotes but both could be seen in the Raiders match-up with Cal State Northridge tomorrow at 7 p.m.
