“I’m confident in my game, especially from 3 point. I feel like I’ve been a good shooter throughout my life. I’m going to be confident when it comes to that. It felt good putting in a few,” Norris said.
The 6-foot guard from Hilliard Bradley redshirted last season but made 39 of 111 threes (35.1%) while making 21 starts his first two years.
“It’s nice to see the ball go in for him,” said coach Clint Sargent, who likes Norris’ other attributes just as much.
The son of a high school coach is often a coach on the floor.
“Keaton’s leadership and steadiness are something I know as a head coach, it’s invaluable,” he said.
“Throughout this week in practice, there was a coaching point to be made, and I was on my way to address it, and Keaton would beat me to the talking point. He does a ton.”
The Raiders made 11 of 25 threes and shot 56.5% from the field. They had a 57-25 rebounding edge.
Logan Woods scored a team-high 13 points, and transfer Jack Doumbia had 12.
Freshmen Ayden Davis and Alex Bruskotter had 13 and 12, respectively, all in the second half.
“Tonight was a lot of things — not an overly competitive final score, but there’s so many things you’ve evaluating when you get in front of people (attendance: 1,563),” Sargent said.
“We talked a lot with our team about not changing who we’ve been, not changing what we’ve been like in the spring, summer and fall with our character and how we’ve prepped: ‘Just because all of a sudden there’s an audience, don’t let that change that you.’ For the most part, we did a good job of that.”
The highlight of the night came late in the first half — an outlet pass by Brandon Noel to Soloman Callaghan, and a lob at the rim from Callaghan to Doumbia for a dunk.
The starters were Noel, Woods, Norris, Alex Huibregtse and transfer Micheal Imariagbe.
Drey Carter and Andrew Welage were the first subs.
Callaghan and Doumbia were next to come in after about four minutes of play.
Andrea Holden was the lone freshman to make an early appearance. Ten of 13 scholarship players saw action in the first half.
Callaghan hit a 3 for a 15-5 lead after about five minutes in the first half.
The Raiders stretched the margin to 28-12 on a breakaway layup by Carter.
Wilmington made 10 threes but went 19 of 67 from the field (28.4%).
“We were ready to go at the start, and finished well, too,” Norris said.
After facing Kentucky in the season opener Monday, Nov. 4, the Raiders will play their home opener two days later against Ohio Christian.
NEXT GAME
Monday, Nov. 4
Wright State at Kentucky, 7 p.m., ESPNU, 101.5, 1410
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