Wright State men’s basketball team had no trouble handling the Cedarville University Yellow Jackets in their first exhibition game under new head coach Scott Nagy on Nov. 2 at the Nutter Center.
The win on Wednesday, was Nagy’s first game with the Raiders after coaching for 21 years at South Dakota State University.
“I was nervous. It felt like I was coaching my first game ever which was a long time ago at South Dakota State,” Nagy said.
Nagy and the Raiders didn’t look nervous against the division two Yellow Jackets as the Raiders’ starters got off to a fast start. Senior, Steven Davis, and juniors, Justin Mitchell and Mark Alstork scored nine points in a row to begin the exhibition game.
The Raiders would go on to extend the lead throughout the first half as the Raiders, at one point, led the Yellow Jackets by 28 points going into the final minutes of the second half.
In the first half Wright State hit more than half of the shots they put up, shooting 56% from the field as well as 70% from beyond the arc. The Raiders’ first half defense was equally as impressive as their offense, holding Cedarville to only 32% shooting from the field.
The second half told a completely different story as Wright State offense began to slow down and Cedarville’s began to heat up. In the first eight minutes of the second half Wright State connected on only one of their first 14 shots, while Cedarville made half of their shots cutting a 23 point Raider lead to 13.
Yet, after a timeout, Wright State went on an 8-0 run and would end up winning the exhibition game 88-62 against the Cedarville Yellow Jackets.
Both Mitchell, and Alstork led both teams in scoring with 18 points each. Senior transfer Mike LaTulip, pitched in 13 points while hitting three, three pointers in the game.
Junior guard, Grant Benzinger, pulled down a game high 14 rebounds as the Raiders out rebounded the Yellow Jackets, 58-31. Rebounding was an aspect of the game Nagy thought highly on.
“I’m very pleased with our rebounding effort,” Nagy said following the game. “It’s one of the things that when we had our scrimmage last Saturday we were not very good on the glass and I thought we were much more physical in rebounding the ball tonight.”
The Raiders first regular season game will be on Nov. 11, against Southern Illinois. They will open up at home in their following game, against conference foe Miami, on Tuesday, 7 p.m., Nov. 15, at the Nutter Center.
