The tipoff was just under 37 hours after a disheartening loss to Cleveland State. A noon game is always a challenge for late-rising college students. And many fans seemed to have gotten an early start on their Bengal watch parties since only 2,877 showed up, about half of the turnout for CSU.
But the Raiders jumped out to leads of 18-10, 23-13 and 29-15. And even after a slight wobble late in the first half, they never relinquished control on their way to a 75-63 victory.
“I was worried about this game, whether we won or lost against Cleveland State, about getting our guys turned around,” Nagy said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of their effort.
“A Sunday start at noon and a lot of things going on. For our guys to play emotionally the way they did, I was just so pleased with them. Defensively, we were very good. I thought our kids guarded well.”
The Mastodons, one of the league’s top offensive teams, had a run of 11 straight points starting at 8:10 of the first half to cut into the deficit. But the Raiders, leading by six at halftime, stretched it to 15 with 14:33 to go and never looked back.
The 63 points were the fewest they’ve allowed to a Horizon League foe outside of last-place IUPUI.
“Coming off that loss, this was definitely a big game for us,” said junior wing Tanner Holden, who had a game-high 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting with seven rebounds.
“We were disappointed with losing. It was a quick turnaround The vibe was different here with the fans. There were a lot of different outside factors, but we rose to the occasion.”
Holden — who became the 16th player in Wright State history to make the 1,000-point, 500-rebound club earlier this month — got his day started the right way with back-to-back 3′s in the first four minutes.
Known for almost never taking a bad shot, he went 2 of 3 from the arc. He’d never attempted or made more than two in a game in his career.
And while he’s probably the Raiders’ most dependable player, junior point guard Trey Calvin isn’t far behind.
He had another solid all-around game with 12 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals.
Junior post Grant Basile, who was averaging 17.5 points but was coming off back-to-back games in single digits, broke out of his mini-slump after a slow start.
Having gone scoreless in the first 36 minutes against Cleveland State and finishing with five points, he missed five of his first six shots against PFW. But the preseason first-team all-league pick tallied 16 of his 21 points after halftime and grabbed seven rebounds.
He was 8 of 16 from the field and, after going 0 of 6 on 3′s in the last three games, made 3 of 7.
“It was definitely a confidence booster for him,” Holden said. “He was really upset with himself against Cleveland State and the week before that. Everyone has their slumps in games. It’s human nature. You’re not going to always play your best.
“It was good for him to get his confidence back. He’s a great player, and we need him to perform for us to be great.”
The Raiders, who are 12-10 overall and 9-4 in the league, picked up a game on Cleveland State, which dropped to 10-2 after losing at Northern Kentucky on Sunday.
Oakland, which is in first at 9-1, faces Wright State for the first time at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Nutter Center.
But Nagy is concerned about his team’s psyche, apart from Holden and Calvin.
“It’s a very strange thing going on, but we have a lot of guys with very shaky confidence. They’re just very unsure of themselves,” he said.
“We have a few that aren’t playing that way, but I’d say the majority of our players are not playing confidently. We’ve got to get that worked out.”
HITTING THE BOOKS: Basile, A.J. Braun, Keaton Norris, C.J. Wilbourn, Andrew Welage, Riley Voss and Brandon Noel were recognized by the school at halftime for being Scholar Athletes, meaning they all have at least 3.0 GPAs.
THURSDAY’S GAME
Detroit Mercy at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 980
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