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Men's basketball: Raiders prepare for senior night

While injuries have forced Wright State to give quality playing time to its freshmen, the program could benefit in the long run as young players get an opportunity to develop.

But one group of players will not get to enjoy this advantage in what has been an otherwise tumultuous year.

“The question is, did they elevate their games through this?” Wright State head coach Billy Donlon said about Wright State’s three seniors. “We had a freshman (Grant Benzinger) get 76 (points) in three games, clearly he elevated his game through this. With them, I have not talked about the injuries. Adversities comes at you in life, can you elevate?”

Donlon and the WSU Athletics Department will honor seniors Chrishawn Hopkins, Reggie Arceneaux and Kendall Griffin following Thursday night’s home finale versus Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“I feel for all three of them because you remember your senior year the most and right now, at this moment, it is not the kind of year you want to remember,” Donlon said. “There are some games left to play.”

While Arceneaux and Hopkins will play a key role for the Raiders closing out the season, Griffin’s year is done after he suffered a career-ending concussion last month at Oakland. Donlon said his staff is still working out details on how exactly they’ll honor Griffin. He did not rule out possibly starting Griffin and then calling timeout so he can hear his name in the starting lineup one final time.

For the Raiders, they’re hoping this will not be the last time they step foot on the Nutter Center this year.

“I’ll always say that, ‘The ceremony is after (the game), that is a great opportunity for you guys but it doesn’t have to be the last time we play in the Nutter Center,’” Donlon said. “I’ll make that the message and say hey, this is not the last game we’re going to play here and maybe sooth them for the game to control their emotions.”

The Raiders are coming off a tough 55-48 loss at Valpo, who clinched a share of the league title over the weekend.

“There are games where you feel both teams deserve to win and that is how I felt Saturday versus Valpo,” Donlon said. “Those guys put a lot of effort and a lot of heart into that game.”

The Raiders will need to win at least one of their last two games to have a chance to host a first-round Horizon League Tournament game next week.

The Raiders might get another boost this week. Donlon said there is a possibility leading scorer JT Yoho could return for Thursday’s game versus Milwaukee. Donlon added that Yoho is likely to return in time for the Raiders’ season finale versus Illinois-Chicago Saturday.

Yoho has missed over a month with a knee injury. Since Yoho’s departure from the lineup, WSU has lost nine out of 10 and seven in a row.

Yoho practiced with the team Tuesday.

“I thought he looked good for a guy who hasn’t done much,” Donlon said. “I thought he was getting excited. It was definitely the first day where he did some more things than he has done in a long time so I don’t know how much of that was just adrenaline.”

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