Senior forward JT Yoho scored a game high 15 points at the Nutter Center on Friday, Dec. 4. but it was not enough to power Wright State past Georgia State as they fell 59-46.
“You always want to win at home, especially in front of your home crowd,” Yoho said. “We’re disappointed but there’s nothing we can do about it now. We’ve just got to watch film, learn from our mistakes and get better.”
The first half was tight with neither team gaining much of an advantage as they were tied at 10 within the first 10 minutes.
“In the first half our offense was poor because we didn’t finish plays,” Raiders head coach Billy Donlon said.
The Panthers scored back to back baskets after the tie to gain the largest lead of the half of four points but the Raiders retaliated with Yoho and senior guard Joe Thomasson draining back to back 3 pointers to gain a 19-16 advantage.
Over the final 3:32 of the half, the Panthers outscored the Raiders 8-1 and took a 24-20 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.
Wright State shot 50 percent from the 3 point line in the half as sophomore guard Grant Benzinger made two and led the Raiders with six points.
“I thought we executed our plan against the zone very well in the first half,” Donlon. “When you guard them as well as we did and the way we played offense in the first half, we have to go into halftime with an eight to 12 lead, we did not.”
The Panthers opened up the second half on fire by making nine of their first 10 shots from the field to take a 27-43 lead with 11:15 remaining. The 16 point advantage would be their largest of the game as the Raiders battled back cutting the deficit to seven with 2:53 remaining before the Panthers closed the game out on an 8-2 run.
“In the second half our offense was poor all because of Georgia State’s defense,” Donlon said.
The Panthers had three players score in double-digits: Jeff Thomas with 12 while Markus Crider and Isaiah Dennis each scored 10.
Yoho led the Raiders with a game-high 15 points after hitting three 3 pointers while Benzinger matched him with three 3 pointers for nine points.
Wright State (3-5) , now 2-1 at home, will be back in action at Xavier for a battle with the Musketeers on Tuesday, Dec. 8 starting at 7 p.m.
