Men's basketball | Photo by Soham Parikh | The Wright State Guardian
The Wright State Raiders beat the Green Bay Phoenix in two games over the weekend on Dec. 26 and 27, winning game one 67-53 and game two 90-77.
The players to watch this weekend were Green Bay’s Amari Davis, who scored 20 points in the first half of game two, and Wright State’s Tanner Holden, whose performances in both games over the weekend earned him the Horizon League’s Player of the Week award. Holden is Wright State’s second player to earn the award this year, after Senior Center Loudon Love.
Game one
Game one was a low-scoring match for both sides, with Loudon Love standing out for the Raiders. The Raiders lead at the half 23-21, with Love scoring eight points in the paint and securing rebound after rebound.
In the second half, Junior Jaylon Hall helped secure WSU a convincing lead, with 12 points in the half. With Holden and Love as the top scorers, WSU was able to finish the game with their first win of the weekend, 67-53.
“More than any other team I have been on, this could be a very good defensively minded team… We knew as long as we would stick with it on the defensive end that we would be alright,” said Hall during a post-game interview.
“I was proud of our guys at halftime Offensively, we were playing about as bad as we could play, and we were ahead by 2… The reason we won the game was when we were so bad offensively we were good defensively,” said head coach Scott Naggy.
Game two
After the loss in game one, the Phoenix played aggressive, picking up early points, with Amari Davis and PJ Pipes leading the charge.
Pipes picked up seven points in the early minutes of the game, forcing a Wright State timeout with a 14-8 scoreline in Green Bay’s favor. WSU was able to bring the game back near the end of the first half, but Green Bay still led 39-36 at the halfway point, with Davis scoring 20.
Both teams fought hard in the second half, but Wright State gained an edge with a 14-point run, and turned it up on defense, getting a convincing 68-53 lead with 10:30 left to play. The Raiders carried that lead to the end of the game, finishing with a scoreline of 90-77.
“Everyone was kind of mad. It felt like a 15 point game to us, but we were only down 3, just because we knew how much better we could do.... What it really boiled down to was just heart,” said Holden during a post-game interview.
