No small accomplishment beating the tradition-rich Racers. They were picked first in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division in a vote of coaches and sports information directors, have been to 14 NCAA Tournaments and had been 4-0 in the CFSB Center. But the Raiders seem to have found a formula for winning in hostile environs.
“The last two road games our defense has been what I thought it was going to be when I came here,” said first-year WSU coach Scott Nagy, who spent 21 years at South Dakota State. “The kids are really starting to implement the plan and believe in it. You can see what it’s doing for us.”
A 13-1 surge at the outset of the second half was key as the Raiders (9-4) took control after trailing 36-30 at halftime. WSU closed with a 14-2 spurt after leading 63-60 with just under five minutes to play. Mark Alstork led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-19 shooting and Steven Davis added 20.
The Raiders held Murray State to 29-percent shooting (8-for-28) in the second half to finish non-conference play with their best record since also going 9-4 in 2012-13. High-scoring MSU guard Jonathan Stark reached his average of 21 points but needed 16 field-goal attempts and 12 free throws to get there.
“We’ve gone on the road and beat two people who don’t lose on the road very often because we played tremendous defense,” Nagy said. “We weren’t very good in the first half, but boy did we play well in the second half.”
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