Despite 17 points and 13 rebounds off of the bench for senior guard JT Yoho, Wright State men’s basketball team fell to Green Bay 76-68 on Monday, Jan. 4.
Phoenix guard Khalil Small recorded a game-high 20 points as Green Bay out-scored the Raiders 41-23 in the second half.
Sophomore guard Mark Alstork matched Yoho with 17 points for WSU while senior center Michael Karena scored 13 points and senior forward Joe Thomasson scored 11.
Small got the Phoenix going early by making his first four attempts to collect 10 points in the game’s first five minutes.
Green Bay led by 11 after Small made a 3 pointer with 16:53 remaining but the Raiders chipped away at the deficit with an 11-4 run over the next two minutes.
Thomasson scored four points during the run while Alstork scored five to cut the deficit to four points.
During a 14-8 run by the Raiders, Thomasson grabbed a rebound and found Alstork for three with 8:58 remaining to give Wright State their first lead of the game at 28-26.
The Raiders built on their lead gaining a seven point advantage after Karena drew a foul while getting the basket to fall with 55 seconds remaining. The Raiders led 45-35 at the break as they shot 53 percent.
The Phoenix cut their deficit in half in the first 1:30 after a 3 pointer by guard Jordan Fouse and a layup by Small.
Wright State was scoreless in the first 3:57 while Green Bay cut the deficit to three but Alstork ended the drought with a 3 pointer followed by Yoho with a layup.
Fouse responded with five points in 37 seconds as Green Bay tied the game on a Carrington Love 3 pointer with 13:34 remaining.
Two minutes later the Phoenix regained the lead after a layup by Tevin Findlay and a 3 pointer by Love.
After another 3 pointer by Love put the Phoenix up by five with 8:08 remaining, Green Bay was held without a field goal for the next six minutes. They made eight free throws during that span as forward Turner Botz ended their drought with a tip-in with 2:39 remaining as the Phoenix led 72-64. With 4:35 remaining Alstork fouled out for WSU.
Green Bay made 23 of 37 free throw attempts compared to just 10 attempts by Wright State.
Wright State (7-8;1-1) travels to Northern Kentucky (4-8;0-2) on Saturday, Jan. 9 for a match-up with the Norse at 1 p.m.
