TV/Radio: ESPN+/103.9
Series: Wright State leads 42-36
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 111-54 in his sixth year at Wright State and 521-294 in his 27th year overall. Dennis Gates is 35-31 in his third season at Cleveland State.
Probable Wright State starters
Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.
A.J. Braun 6-9 Fr. C 9.8
Grant Basile 6-9 Jr. F 18.1
Tanner Holden 6-6 Jr. G 21.9
Tim Finke 6-6 Jr. G 8,6
Trey Calvin 6-0 Jr. G 10.4
Probable Cleveland State starters
Deante Johnson 6-9 Sr. F 8.7
Torrey Patton 6-5 Sr. F 13.5
Tre Gomillion 6-4 Sr. G 6.0
Deshon Parker 6-4 Sr. G 4.0
D’Moi Hodge 6-5 Sr. G 12.7
About Wright State: The Raiders’ 86-73 win at Purdue Fort Wayne had a get-right feel to it. After losing their previous five games, their longest skid in seven years, they blistered the Mastodons offensively thanks to a lineup change by Nagy. Putting Braun at center gives the Raiders twin towers in the post. Not only did they shoot 69.2 percent from the field, but they went 5 of 12 on 3′s, which Nagy said is an optimum number of attempts, and 9 of 10 on foul shots. … They’re 0-5 when allowing at least 74 points. ... Holden is third in the league in scoring and has tallied between 17 and 25 points each game. … Basile is fifth in scoring and third in rebounding with an 8.3 average. … The Raiders have been getting good production off the bench from 6-6 sophomore guard Andrew Welage, who has a combined 18 points in his last two games. He’s gone 5 of 9 from the field, 4 of 7 on 3′s and 7 of 7 at the foul line. … The Raiders split with the Vikings last season in back-to-back weekend home games, losing the first and winning the second. They won five straight in the series before that, including a 74-57 victory in the 2018 league tourney finals in Detroit.
About Cleveland State: The Vikings, who finished 19-8 last season and tied for first with Wright State in the Horizon League at 16-4, were the overwhelming preseason favorites. They won their first conference tourney title since 2009 last March with Patton, the Trotwood-Madison product, earning MVP honors. He was named first-team all-league, while Gomllion and Johnson made the league’s all-defensive team. … They started 1-2, losing at BYU and at home to Ohio U., but they’ve ripped off five straight wins since then. They’re 5-0 when they score at least 65 points. … They opened league play with a 72-58 win over visiting Northern Kentucky. Patton, who is using his “Covid year,” had 20 points, Hodge 15 and Johnson 14. … The Vikings went 11-21 in Gates’ first season before winning their first regular-season title since 2010-11 last season and advancing to the NCAA tourney, losing to Houston in the first round, 87-56. The school rewarded Gates, a former Florida State assistant, with a six-year contract with a base salary of $500,000.
Local flavor: Parker, a Wayne High School grad, is shooting 54.5% from the field. He played at Appalachian State last season, starting 14 games and helping the Mountaineers to their first NCAA tourney trip since 2000. Before that, he spent two years at James Madison. His best season was when he averaged 10 points as a sophomore for the Dukes.
Next game: The Raiders will have 11 days off until hosting Akron at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15. They have two more non-league games against Tennessee Tech at home and N.C. State on the road before diving back into league play.
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