Basketball | Photo by Soham Parikh | The Wright State Guardian
The Wright State Raiders and Cleveland State Vikings faced off in a two-game weekend series. Coming into the weekend, the Vikings were 8-0 in the league, and the Raiders were 6-2.
The stand-out players in the series were the Viking’s Dayton native Torrey Patton, who put in 17 points for their game one win, and WSU’s Tanner Holden, whose 34 points and 17 rebounds led the team all weekend.
Game One
Loudon Love got the first touch on the tip ball, but hit it out of bounds for Cleveland possession. The Vikings took advantage of that possession, turning defense into quick offense with five points before the Raiders could respond.
When the Raiders did respond, they hit back hard with Love scoring four up close and Tim Finke draining five.
While Cleveland relied on shooting the ball in play, shooting 35 times to Wright State’s 18, The Raiders broke through from baiting out fouls, shooting 14 free throws to Cleveland’s two for a halftime score of 27-27.
Wright State continued to find success up close in the second half, with Trey Calvin and Grant Basile both putting in points to give the Raiders a 43-35 lead. For the Vikings, Torrey Patton was a threat everywhere, leading in points and rebounds for his team.
Cleveland was able to regroup, and finally regained the lead at 54-53 with 5:20 left to play. The game returned to the end of the first half, tied with one minute left to play.
Torrey Patton put in a layup with 25 seconds left to play, but Tanner Holden responded with a rebound basket with seconds left. As Wright State celebrated, Cleveland State found a pass to Deante Johnson, who finished the game with a dunk at the buzzer, winning game one for Cleveland.
Game Two
After losing their second game at the buzzer in two weeks, Wright State was eager for some revenge. They started the game quickly, with Love winning the tip and Holden putting in the first basket. They found early success up close, and a Finke 3-pointer forced a timeout at 10-2.
WSU drew foul after foul, shooting 21 free throws in the first half to Cleveland’s four. But, unlike game one, they shot even with the Vikings, giving them a big lead at halftime of 42-22.
Cleveland fought hard for a comeback like game one, but they couldn’t gain on Wright State’s lead, with the Raiders still dominating 59-32 with 10 minutes left.
The Vikings tried everything to stop the WSU offense, but the Raiders showed no mercy, pushing even harder to 73-31.
After the games, coach Scott Nagy commented on the weekend.
“It’s the exact same thing that happened last week. I just thank the players for picking me up after the game… proud of the way we played today,” he said.
