Wright State basketball: Quick start leads to easy win for Raiders

Wright State started 8 of 8 from the field, built a 19-2 lead and coasted to a 101-71 victory over visiting Robert Morris on Saturday.

Fueled by hot starts from center A.J. Braun and wing Alex Huibregtse, the Raiders made 21 of 29 shots (72.4%) and went 6 of 7 on 3′s in the first half, building a 53-32 lead.

They’re 15-12 overall and 10-6 in the Horizon League, two games behind co-leaders Green Bay and Oakland with four to go.

Playing before a Homecoming crowd of 5,057, they completed the series sweep of the Colonials (10-17, 6-10), having bolted to a 27-6 lead in the first meeting and winning, 101-76.

“We’re not doing anything super special. We really aren’t,” Nagy said of the offense. “We just have good offensive players, and they’re so used to each other now.

“Robert Morris went to a bigger lineup because they know we’re going to throw it inside. They started (6-9 freshman Alvaro Folgueiras) just to be bigger around the rim. But A.J. posted so hard today and got him in foul trouble. He just did a nice job.”

The Raiders notched their sixth 100-point game this season, one short of the school record set in 1992-93.

It was their largest margin of victory against a Division-I foe this season.

“Defensively, it’s close to as good as I’ve seen us all year. We were connected and tight. We held them under one point per possession, which is maybe the first time in the league. It leads to points scored,” said Nagy, who is 7-1 against Robert Morris.

The Raiders, who started the day leading the nation in field-goal shooting at 52.9%, didn’t miss a shot until the 13:55 mark.

They hit 64.2% and have seven games of 60-plus shooting this season.

They also defended. They held the visitors without a field goal for the first 5:35 and forced them into 44.2% shooting.

Braun had 12 points in the first 15 minutes and tied his career high with 24, going 9 of 10 from the field and 6 of 8 from the foul line.

“My teammates were finding me and getting me the ball in good spots,” the 6-foot-9 junior said. “That’s all you can ask for.”

Brandon Noel had 21 points, going 6 of 8 from the floor and 8 of 10 on foul shots.

Calvin had 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting with eight assists and five rebounds.

Alex Huibregtse made his first three 3′s and started 5 of 6 from the field for 13 points in the opening 16 minutes. He finished with 14.

Tanner Holden entered the game with 1,999 career points, counting the 97 he scored last season at Ohio State. He had 12 and is 86 short of joining Trey Calvin and Bill Edwards in the Raider 2,000-point club.

Andrew Welage returned to action at 8:15 of the first half and scored two points in 16 minutes. The senior guard last played at Northern Kentucky on Feb. 4 and had missed five of the previous six games.

“We were tired of having close games,” Braun said. “We wanted to go out there set the tone — be comfortable, but also be aggressive and be who we are. And that’s what we did.”

THURSDAY’S GAME

Wright State at Detroit Mercy, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410