Sophomore guard Mark Alstork led Wright State men’s basketball team with 18 points at Northern Kentucky on Saturday, Jan. 9 as the Raiders defeated the Norse 60-46.
The Norse had zero players score in double-digits for the game but senior forward JT Yoho scored 13 points off of the bench for the Raiders while senior forward Joe Thomasson scored 11 with seven rebounds.
The Norse (4-10; Horizon 0-3) jumped ahead to an 11-4 advantage in the games first 6:11 after junior forward Deontae Cole found junior guard Dean Danos for three.
Wright State (8-8; Horizon 2-1) cut the deficit to one point 1:15 later after Thomasson drained a 3 pointer followed by a free throw by Alstork and a layup by senior guard Biggie Minnis.
About a minute later, freshman center Drew McDonald made a jump shot to put the Norse up by three. The teams went back and fourth for the next 8:14 as the Norse would get ahead by five points, then the Raiders would cut it back to three.
Yoho made a lay-up followed by a Thomasson jumper to give the Raiders their first lead of the game at 22-21 with 2:29 remaining in the half.
The Norse regained the lead 15 seconds later on a lay-up as they gained a four-point advantage but Alstork drew a foul and got the lay-up to fall with six seconds remaining for a halftime score of 28-27.
Both teams made 12 field goals in the half but Wright State shot 23 percent less than the Norse.
Twelve seconds into the second half, Yoho sank a jump shot to give the Raiders a 29-28 lead. He sank another jumper 5:23 later to give the Raiders a four-point advantage before WSU caught fire with a 10-0 run in the next 5:33 to go up 46-32. The run completed a 15-2 run for the Raiders over a 10:29 time span.
The Norse cut the deficit to nine points with 3:59 remaining but the Raiders responded with an 8-0 run to gain their largest lead of 17 with 1:23 remaining.
Senior center Michael Karena scored nine points and collected five rebounds for the Raiders.
Wright State continues conference play as the host Cleveland State (5-11; Horizon 0-3) at the Nutter Center on Thursday, Jan. 14 as they begin a five game home stand. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m.
